Stalking Lavi Bookman
by SwingTree85
Summary: Lavi Bookman has many admirers at Black Order University that watch him from afar.  Of course, "afar" in this case refers to the bushes in Allen Walker's front yard.  How will Allen deal with a neighbor who seems bent on making his life miserable? Laven
1. Move In Day

Hi there!

So, this is an interesting experiment for me. Not only is it my first fanfic in, oh, four or five years, it is also my first attempt at writing this particular fandom. It is ALSO my first attempt at writing a pairing. So we'll see how all of this goes.

Just a quick note of explanation: I'm doing my best to keep the big four (Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, and Kanda) in character for this fic. However, the random side characters I'm throwing in? Yeah, not so much. This story is supposed to have quite a few absurd elements to it, and the behavior of these characters will fall under this category. But I wanted to use characters from the anime instead of making up random OCs, so there you go. Just let me know if you have any ideas or opinions about how I'm handling these characters, as concrit is always appreciated!

Now, onward!

* * *

Allen Walker grinned, readjusting his grip on the cardboard box labeled _KITCHEN_ as he slid it out of the back of his rusted red Jeep Cherokee. Not many freshmen at Black Order University were allowed to live off campus, let alone in a house they themselves had bought and paid for. But he was what administration referred to as a "special case." Allen Walker had always been a special case.

He'd lost his adoptive father, Mana, at the age of twelve and had been sent to live with his psychotic (in Allen's humble opinion) godfather, Cross Marian. Those six years had been hell, and everyone around him had known to take it easy on the poor orphan boy living in such unfortunate circumstances. It had almost been enough for Allen to resent Mana for forcing upon him a legal guardian who was so obviously unbalanced.

But only almost.

But now Allen was eighteen and could access the surprisingly large trust fund Mana had left to him. Instead of living in the dorms and giving more money to the school than was strictly necessary, he'd decided to purchase a house to live in during his four years at the University. When he graduated, he'd sell the place and hopefully get all of his money back. Maybe even make a profit, too.

Allen hefted the box and began the walk up the sidewalk to the front door. _His_ front door, he corrected silently. He still couldn't quite believe that he would be living on his own now, in another city, far away from his uncle and his childhood worries.

He pushed his way through the screen door and walked through the living room in order to get to the kitchen. The house was relatively small, as houses go, but Allen didn't really need much space when only he would be living there. The kitchen had relatively new appliances, and a little nook off the back held a worn dinette with mismatched chairs. The living room was cramped and narrow, but the fireplace in the middle of the far wall made up for it. Upstairs there were two bedrooms—one Allen slept in, and one he used as an office. The bathroom had a shower with a deep soaker tub, as well as rather garish blue flower wallpaper. The basement held storage and the rickety old washer and dryer. The light switch didn't work down there, so he had to do his laundry by flashlight. He'd really have to fix that soon, he decided.

He set the box on the floor of the kitchen with a soft _clank_ and ran his hands over the worn kitchen counter. The place was pretty old, built in 1907, but it had plenty of charm, which is what Allen had loved most about it when his realtor had originally shown him the place. It was in a neighborhood that was only two blocks from campus, but was in the opposite direction of most student housing. Because of this, the area was still largely residential and the street was full of families. Only the house to Allen's left and the one across the street and two houses over were occupied by students. Allen's realtor had mentioned something about his new neighbors being displeased that their quiet street was slowly being invaded by students, but told Allen he had nothing to worry about because he seemed like "such a nice, quiet boy." Which he, in fact, was. So Allen didn't think much about those concerns.

Though maybe he should have, because as he returned to his Jeep for another box, he saw a balding man standing in the front yard of the house kitty-corner to his own, across the street. The man was staring intently at Allen's front door, and as Allen jogged down the front steps the man's eyes widened and he began walking purposefully toward him. Allen stopped next to the large gingko tree in his yard and waited.

"You there!" the man called out. "Young boy!"

"Yes sir?" Allen asked politely when the man drew abreast of him. "How can I help you?"

"Where are your parents?" the man asked with blatant suspicion. "I would like to speak with them."

Allen stifled a sigh. "I don't have any parents, sir. It's just me living here. I bought this house on my own."

The man gasped loudly. "But you can't be more than twelve years old!" he cried.

"Sir, I assure you, I am eighteen and legally an adult. Can I help you with something?" Allen would have been annoyed by the man's rude comment, but he was used to comments about his height and apparent age.

"You're a student at the university," the man stated, rather than asked. Any politeness that may have been present in his voice before (Allen sure hadn't detected any) was gone now, replaced with a startling amount of venom.

"Yes sir," Allen replied warily.

"I told Guzol not to sell his place to students," the man raged, mostly to himself. "And look at you! Dying your hair white and tattooing your face. Kids these days, I tell you! No respect for their bodies. Or for their neighbors." He cast a dark look at the house next to Allen's. Allen decided he had the students who lived there to blame for this man's crazed outburst.

"Um, I can assure you Mr… ah…" He trailed off invitingly.

"My name is George, and I represent this neighborhood," the man said. Allen stuck out his hand to shake, but George just looked at it like it was a particularly horrifying insect. Allen withdrew it hastily and hid it behind his back.

"Well, Mr. George," Allen said, a bit strained. "I can assure you that this is my natural hair color, and the mark on my face is a scar." He ran a finger over it before continuing. "I am quiet and respectful. I work hard at school and don't care for parties. I promise I won't cause you any trouble." He offered a weak grin, which George also ignored.

"I still don't trust you," George declared, beginning to turn and walk away. "We're going to have a neighborhood meeting about this. This madness must stop!" he shouted, running back across the street and into his house. He slammed the door loudly, making Allen wince.

"Great, just what I need," Allen muttered to himself as he pulled another box out of the back of his car. He trooped up the sidewalk and set the box, which was full of his office supplies, at the foot of the stairs. His good mood had mostly evaporated, leaving him feeling tired and annoyed. Just who did that guy think he was, anyway? Allen had purchased this house with his own money. This was his property and he could do whatever he wanted with it.

So distracted was Allen by this new injustice that he didn't even see the brown-haired girl crouching behind his bushes until he had passed by her three times. When he finally did notice her he stopped and considered her, head cocked slightly to the left in confusion. She was staring up at the house next door with a hopeful, longing expression. She didn't notice Allen at all.

"Um, excuse me?" he murmured.

"Ah!" she screamed, toppling over.

"Oh, miss, I'm so sorry!" Allen apologized, reaching down to help her up. She snatched her arm away and looked up into his face, terrified. Allen raked his bangs over the scar on his left eye and offered a reassuring smile.

"Who are you?" the girl whispered. She had light eyes and was wearing a pink kimono for some reason.

"My name is Allen Walker. Who are you? And why are you crouching in my bushes?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, face heating up. "Um. My name is Chomesuke. I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone lived here yet. Lavi didn't tell me the house had been sold. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Lavi doesn't really tell me anything anymore…" And, to Allen's horror, she started bawling right there on his front lawn.

"Uh," he said intelligently, as sobs racked her thin frame.

"Why is he doing this to me!" the girl wailed. "He must know how much I love him! Why, God?" She actually shook her fist at the sky, and Allen had to stifle a laugh. It wouldn't do for this poor girl to see him giggling at her pain.

"Who is he?" Allen asked, trying instead to be comforting and understanding. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder and was relieved when she didn't try to bite it off.

"Only the absolute love of my life! I met him at one of his parties and I just knew it was love at first sight!" the girl declared, hiccupping. "He lives right there"—she pointed to the house George had been glaring at earlier—"and I don't think he wants to see me anymore. He won't return my calls, and every time I stop by the house, his roommates give me these stupid excuses and I just _know_ he's in there, hiding from me." She looked up at the house again, wistfully. "Why are you doing this to me, my love?" she whispered.

_Perhaps it's because you're a terrifying crazy person_, Allen wanted to say. What he said instead was "maybe he's just been busy? School is starting in three days, you know."

"Oh, school isn't difficult for Lavi. He's a genius!" she sighed. "Do you want to see what he looks like?" Chomesuke asked randomly, pulling a bright pink binder out of nowhere.

"Uh," Allen said again, startled by her sudden change in mood.

"See!" she said joyfully, throwing the cover open with a flourish. Inside was a laminated collage of photos, with sparkly hearts and stars drawn all over in what looked to Allen like glitter glue. Each picture was of the same boy: a tall redhead with an eye patch over his right eye. In some of the pictures he was smiling at the camera, but in most of them it was as if he didn't even know his photo was being taken.

_Stalker!_ Allen thought, grimacing a bit. Chomesuke pouted, misunderstanding his expression.

"You're a boy, so you _wouldn't_ be able to comprehend his beauty," she sighed, stroking the page lovingly. Allen noticed that many of the pictures were cropped, as though there had been other people in them who had been cut out.

"So, he's your boyfriend?" Allen asked. This was obviously the wrong thing to say, because Chomesuke started wailing again. Allen glowered at the house next door, willing this Lavi person to come out and deal with this problem instead of dumping it on him.

"I-I-I thought he was, but then I saw him at a party with some other girl and when I tried to confront him about it he ran away!"

"Wait. So he was dating you, then all of a sudden he's with some other girl without even telling you?" Allen cried, indignant on her behalf. "He spent all of that time with you, and then just threw it away? How long were you dating, anyway?"

"Oh, well, I've known him for about a week now…" Chomesuke said thoughtfully.

_What._

"What?" Allen said. "A week?"

"One week of pure bliss," Chomesuke sighed again. "He's such a gentleman, you know."

_Yeah, except for the part where he's apparently a womanizing scoundrel_, Allen thought. This Lavi guy sounded just like Master Cross. _I thought I'd finally gotten away from all of that. Great, just what I need in a neighbor…_

"Would you tell him I stopped by?" Chomesuke pleaded. "You're new, and cute, so Lavi will probably be interested in meeting you. You'll get an invite to one of his parties for sure. Please tell him I say hi. And that I miss him and I love him and I'll do anything to get him back and make it work."

"Well…" Allen began, backing away a little. He did not want to be anyone's messenger boy, especially if they expected him to deliver a message like _that._

"Please, uh, whatever your name was!" Chomesuke begged, throwing herself on him. Allen tumbled to the ground, stunned he'd been tackled and annoyed that this girl hadn't bothered to remember his name.

"Its Allen," he said weakly, pushing at her shoulders. "And you are crushing me."

"Please tell me you'll tell Lavi. Please!"

"Okay, okay, yes, I'll tell him. Now please, miss, get off of me."

"You're so kind!" Chomesuke breathed, eyes shining. She crushed him further with a backbreaking hug, then hopped to her feet. "I'll be back later. Tell me what he says back, okay?" Then she ran off down the sidewalk, waving over her shoulder.

Allen remained sprawled in the grass, baffled by what had just happened to him. First he's accosted by his obviously unbalanced neighbor, then he's attacked by a lovesick girl.

_Yeah,_ s_ick in the_ _mind_, Allen thought unkindly.

"Is she gone?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Allen glanced up at the house next door. Leaning out of the top left window was the boy from Chomesuke's pictures. He looked worried, but when he saw that Allen was alone, his face relaxed into a cocky, teasing smile. "Thanks for that back there. Man, I didn't know _what_ I was gonna do. I've been stuck in the house for, like, two hours because I knew she was out there." He shivered dramatically, then grinned again. "I owe you one, man! When I've got some time on my hands, I'll stop by and say hey. 'Til then, later!" He waved merrily and stuck his head back in the window. A moment later, Allen heard the back door of his house slam, followed by the rumble of a car engine turning over. There was a squeal of tires, and then the redheaded boy was gone.

_Just when I thought I was getting the chance to live a normal life,_ Allen thought miserably. Letting his head fall back onto the grass in exasperation, he stared up at the late August sky and wondered just what the hell was happening to his life.


	2. Fight For Your Right to Party

Hello again! I'm back with chapter two!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed/alerted/favorited/etc. But especially those of you who reviewed. I really appreciate your kind words and support of this random little story.

One reviewer mentioned that my characterization of Chomesuke was a little over the top, and really, that's what I was going for. This story is about a boy (Allen) who tries to live a normal life but is surrounded by irrational situations and people and eventually succumbs to the irrationality himself. Basically, that is just my trying-to-sound-legit way of saying that this story is rather crackish and will only get worse as I progress through it. Yay!

Another note: Allen has his scar and his white hair in this story, but his left arm is normal-looking. So far. I have an idea about what to do with that arm, but we'll see if it works out the way I think it will.

Disclaimer: I forgot this last chapter. Whoops. I do not own D Gray-Man.

* * *

By far, Allen's favorite feature of his new place was the spacious, screened-in porch that was just off the living-room. The window set into the door was beveled, and when the sun shone through it the glass looked yellow. He'd put a broken down old futon out there, along with a white plastic side-table and a couple of tattered bean-bag chairs. Shortly after the George/Chomesuke debacle, Allen had flung himself down on the stained futon cushion and lain dejectedly in a patch of sun. If he closed his eyes and let his mind drift, maybe he could just forget the whole episode had ever happened…

He stayed like that for about an hour, before a light knocking sound permeated the air. Realizing it was the front door, Allen hauled himself to his feet with a huff and trudged to the front of the house. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the smiling face of a pretty Asian girl. Her long dark hair was pulled up into two high pigtails and her eyes were such a deep blue they looked purple.

"Hello?" Allen said.

"Hi there!" she smiled brightly. "My name is Lenalee Lee. I'm your new neighbor. I live over there." She indicated the infamous house next door with a tilt of her head. "Thought I'd drop by and say hi, and welcome to the neighborhood! Lavi and Kanda aren't around—those are my roommates—but I'm sure you'll meet them eventually. Mind if I come in? I brought a present!" She held up a paper plate heaped with chocolate chip cookies. Allen's mouth immediately started watering.

"Of course," he said, moving aside so she could squeeze past him. "I'm Allen Walker, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Allen," Lenalee said, setting the cookies down on the coffee table. "Mind if I sit?"

"Please do," Allen replied, indicating the couch. He flopped down next to her and stuffed three of the cookies into his mouth at once.

"Oh my," Lenalee said, stifling a giggle.

"'orry," Allen said through a mouth full of cookie. He swallowed with some difficulty and grinned sheepishly. "I like food a bit."

"I noticed."

"So, you a student at the university?"

"Oh, yes!" Lenalee replied. "I'm a sophomore."

"That's cool," Allen said, reaching for another cookie. "I'm going to be a freshman. What are you studying?"

"Theatre," Lenalee replied. "Musical theatre, actually. My specialty is dance, but I think I'm an all right singer, too. What about you?"

"Undecided," Allen said, shrugging. "I'll figure something out. Eventually."

"A lot of people start out that way."

"So, you live with two guys? Isn't that kind of weird for you?"

"Oh no, its fine. Those two are my boys—my best friends at the school. Though, I may have led my brother to believe that they were girls," Lenalee said guiltily. "He's a bit overprotective, you know?"

"If I had a younger sister I probably would be too," Allen conceded. "Hey, Lenalee, can I ask you something? It's probably a really weird question, but I've kind of had a weird day."

"Did you have an encounter with George?" Lenalee asked sympathetically.

"Yeah, actually, I did. How'd you know?"

"Well, you're a student. He's sort of…prejudiced, when it comes to university students."

"What is his problem?" Allen wondered.

"Well, it probably has a lot to do with Lavi," Lenalee said. "He's a year older than me, a junior. Ever since he turned twenty-one he's held a party at our place pretty much every weekend. Actually, he was doing that before he even turned twenty-one, but he got busted by the cops so many times his grandfather threatened to cut him off. That house actually belongs to his grandfather, so we would have been homeless. He's the Chancellor of the school, you know. But it's not like Lavi ever got any citations or anything. I swear, that boy can talk his way out of anything. But now when George inevitably calls the police on us, the most we can get fined for is a noise violation." Lenalee paused before adding, "Not that we ever do."

"No wonder George doesn't like him," Allen said, displeased that he'd have to listen to noise from wild parties every weekend, no doubt when he would be trying to sleep.

Lenalee laughed. "Yeah, but he's pretty much the only person who doesn't. Lavi's pretty popular around here."

"I'm aware," Allen deadpanned. Lenalee frowned in confusion. "Do you know a girl named Chomesuke?"

"You mean Sachiko?" Lenalee said, leaning back against the couch. "That's her real name, you know. But when he met her, Lavi was too drunk to remember her name properly, and she said 'whatever you decide to call me, that's what my name will be!' She's a bit stuck on him, from what I've heard."

"More like completely obsessed with him," Allen corrected. By now, all that was left of the cookies was a pile of crumbs. "Those were very good, by the way."

"Thanks! So, you've met Sachi—Chomesuke?" Lenalee corrected herself with a slight twist to her lips.

"She was crouching in my bushes earlier today, spying on your house."

"Yeah, she does that," Lenalee said dismissively. "Actually, you'll probably get a lot of that, as long as you live next to us. Lavi has a lot of admirers. Kanda, too, though they usually don't last very long."

"What, does he kill them or something?"

"Close. He gives them something Lavi calls 'the Death Glare.' They usually don't come back after that."

"Sounds like a real charmer," Allen stated blandly.

Lenalee laughed again. It was bright, happy, and perfectly normal-sounding. Allen was relieved that at least someone in this bizarre neighborhood seemed sane.

"You're funny," she giggled. "You should come to the party tonight! I'm sure Lavi wouldn't mind. He loves meeting new people."

"I don't know," Allen said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not much for parties. I don't drink or anything." Alcohol had been the cause of much of Allen's childhood trauma, and he tended to avoid it on general principle. "Plus, Chomesuke asked me to tell Lavi something for her, and I really, really don't want to."

"Tell him what?" Lenalee inquired.

"That she loves him and misses him and blah blah blah," Allen said, making a face. "Not something I feel comfortable saying to another guy—especially one I don't know—even if it's not coming from me."

"That's not very charitable of you, Allen," Lenalee said, poking him in the chest. "If I didn't know Chomesuke was so creepy I'd be offended. As it is… Well, I'll tell Lavi for you, how about that? But you should still come to the party! It'll be fun, and you'll meet some new people, too!"

"I'll think about it," Allen murmured, looking away. He already knew he wouldn't go, but he didn't want to hurt Lenalee's feelings. She had the makings of a real friend.

"Well, I better go. The party starts soon, and I was supposed to buy chips. Lavi will be pissed if I flake. "

"I appreciate you coming over, Lenalee," Allen said as he walked her to the door. "Thank you for being so welcoming."

"No problem," she said. "And I still say you should come to the party. I hope to see you there, Allen!" And she left, cutting across his yard and hopping gracefully onto her own sidewalk.

Allen closed the door with a smile. This day was actually beginning to look up.

* * *

Allen's garage was disconnected from the house, sitting just off a narrow alleyway that ran behind all of the houses on this side of the street. Allen's Jeep was parked inside, along with his bike, his rollerblades, and all of his gardening implements. Not that Allen gardened, but they were there if he needed them. At the moment, he was trying to drag the push-lawnmower out the side door of the garage. It kept getting caught on the doorjamb, and he was beginning to get frustrated.

"Che," a voice scoffed. "Having some trouble over there, beansprout?"

Allen looked for the source of the voice. Leaning against the large elm tree that was in the backyard of the house next door was an Asian boy with long hair. It was pulled up into a high ponytail and his bangs were chopped horizontally across his forehead. He held a wooden _bokuto_ loosely in his right hand.

_What does this guy think he is? _Allen thought. _A samurai?_

"My name is Allen," he replied, a bit irked. "And you are?"

"Kanda," the boy replied, though Allen had already guessed his identity. "You the new neighbor? Where are your parents? You probably shouldn't try to operate that thing unsupervised."

"I don't have any parents," Allen ground out. "And I don't need any help working the lawnmower, thank you. I've mowed the lawn by myself since I was eight years old."

"Good for you," Kanda said, bored. "That must have been what, two years ago? Should be a pro by now."

"I am not ten!" Allen snapped. "I'm eighteen!"

"Che," Kanda scoffed again. "Freshman."

"You aren't a very nice person, are you?"

"What gave you that idea?" Kanda said, smirking.

"Jerk."

"All right, listen," Kanda said, standing up straight and taking a step toward Allen. "You annoy me. Most people annoy me, actually, but you _really_ annoy me. Lenalee said she invited you to the party, but I'm telling you right now: if you show your face, I will kill you. I will cut that ugly scar right off of your face and watch you bleed to death. Get it?"

Allen nodded dumbly, shocked that someone could form such a strong opinion of him after only knowing him for roughly thirty seconds. Also that someone could be so violent. He'd received death threats from Master Cross every other day growing up, but Allen had never really believed he'd go through with them. He'd hit him on the head with a mallet, sure, but never seriously injure him. This boy, Allen knew, would carry his threats out to the letter. This Kanda person was by far the most terrifying individual Allen had ever met. There went his good mood from meeting Lenalee.

_Speaking of Lenalee,_ Allen thought, _how could someone so sweet be friends with someone like _that_?_

"Good," Kanda said curtly. "Now stay out of my way, beansprout. Just looking at your stupid face is raising my blood pressure."

"Stop calling me beansprout! My name is Allen!"

"Do I look like I care?" And with that, he walked up the back steps to his house and slammed the door.

"Gah!" Allen shouted, tugging hard on the lawnmower. It came free with a jerk, startling him and making him lose his balance. For the second time that day, Allen tumbled to the ground and landed in an ungraceful heap.

* * *

Allen had expected the party at the house next door to be loud. What with George's overreactions, Lenalee's mention of potential noise violations, and Allen's first impression of Lavi's personality, he figured that he'd have to close his windows to be able to block out the sound. It was a rather muggy August night, and Allen wanted nothing more than to get a cross breeze flowing through the room, but he'd have to do without it. The windows were locked tight, stuffed with pillows and blankets in a crude attempt at creating some sort of sound-proofing system.

Still, Allen could hear the goings-on of the party as though they were happening right there in his bedroom.

"Whooooooo!" someone drunkenly shouted. This was followed by a series of crashes and a loud burst of laughter.

"Not funny, you guys!" The same person shouted. "Shit. Think I broke m' leg!"

"Nah, you din't," someone else slurred.

"Needa go to the hospital?" a third person asked. "I dun think any of us should drive."

"Lavi!" the first person shouted. "I broke m' leg and now 'm dyin'. I'll sue yer ass for this! It's a whatsit. A slip 'n fall. Yeah. I fell on yer prop'ty, and yer… Uh…"

"Liable?" a voice Allen recognized as Lavi's supplied. He could practically hear the grin in it. "This isn't really my house, Daisya. So you're shit outta luck, my friend."

"I'll jus' sue the Chance'ler, then," the shouter, Daisya, replied. "Thass a good idea."

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Lavi replied sarcastically.

Allen sighed irritably and rolled over to look at his alarm clock. 2:37. They'd been going at it like this since 10 pm, and he'd had enough. He grabbed a pillow that had fallen from its spot on the window above his dresser and jammed it over his ears. It did absolutely nothing to deaden the sound. Music thudded and pulsated just beneath the din of drunken conversation. Guitars blared wildly and the singer screamed something about a "crazy bitch."

"Classy," Allen mumbled to himself.

And then, just as he had resigned himself to a sleepless night—salvation.

"Oh shit, it's the cops!" someone screeched, followed by a lot of running, scrambling, and general pandemonium.

Red and blue lights slid across the wall, lighting up his thin curtains like a marquee. Unable to contain his curiosity, Allen slipped out of bed, descended the stairs, and crept out onto the porch in order to spy.

"Oh!" a familiar, female voice said softly. "Hey, Allen! Thought you'd be asleep."

Allen frowned and looked down. Lenalee waved awkwardly up at him. She and a few people he'd never seen before were lying flat on their stomachs on the floor of his porch.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked. "How did you even get in here?"

"This is a common place for people to hide when they don't want to get busted," Lenalee explained, still whispering. "Usually the place is empty, so we don't feel bad about breaking in. Now that you live here, you might want to fix the little tear in the screen right next to the door to the backyard." She pointed behind her. "It's really easy for us to use a wire hanger and jimmy open the lock."

"Right," he replied slowly.

"Dude, I'm sorry, but who the hell're you?" a boy sprawled on the floor demanded, not bothering to whisper. His brown hair looked tousled and windswept, and two pink lines of what looked to Allen like makeup were smeared down his cheeks.

"Shhh, Daisya," Lenalee shushed him. "That's Allen Walker. He lives here now. We've told you this, like, a million times. Now shut up. You wanna get caught again?"

"Daisya?" Allen repeated. "Are you the one who broke his leg?"

The boy stared up at him in awe. "How did you know that?" he wondered. "You psychic or something?"

"Yes," Allen responded, tapping his temple. "I am very psychic."

"Dude!" Daisya crowed, earning another round of shushing from his underage companions. "What am I thinking about right now?"

"He's not really psychic, dumbass," another boy muttered. "He could probably hear you screaming through his window. Hell, the whole city could probably hear you. Christ you're loud." He paused, frowning. "And you didn't actually break your leg, so shut up!"

"Sorry about this, Allen," Lenalee apologized. "But, um, could you go check to see if they're gone? I'll lose my scholarship if I get caught. Plus, my brother would probably kill me. No, he'd definitely kill me. Lavi should have gotten rid of them by now, but I'd just like to be sure. Please?" She looked up at him hopefully.

Allen sighed. "Fine, I'll check."

"You're the best!" she whispered to his back as he pulled open the porch door and stepped onto the grass. He wandered to the edge of his property line just as the two officers were getting back into their squad car.

"We're getting far too many noise complaints from you lately, Mr. Bookman," a stout officer with a large moustache was saying. "This is getting out of hand. Keep this up and there will be drastic consequences."

"They're just kids, Charles," a female officer replied, tucking her hair up under her hat. "School's starting soon and they're letting off some steam before classes begin. They'll cool down once school is in session. Won't you?"

"Of course, ma'am," a male voice replied. Allen recognized that it came from none other than Lavi, who was holding the passenger door of the police car open for the female officer. "Thank you for being so understanding, Officer Moa. I promise it won't happen again." She gave him a smile while her partner grumbled darkly from behind the steering wheel. Lavi shut the door behind her and waved as the car slowly pulled away from the curb.

"Whew, that was a close one," Lavi mumbled to himself. He turned around and started walking back toward his house, but stopped short when he saw Allen.

"Hey there, neighbor!" he said, jogging over. "Sorry about all of that. We didn't wake you up, did we?"

"I was never asleep," Allen said shortly. "Lenalee sent me out here to make sure the police were gone. She and a couple of your guests broke into my porch and are hiding there."

Lavi laughed loudly and clapped Allen on the back, which caused him to stumble forward a bit. "Oh man, yeah! They're going to need a new hiding spot for when we get busted. I didn't think they'd run over there, though. I told them someone lives there now. Must be a force of habit."

"Yeah, must be," Allen agreed disinterestedly.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I haven't properly introduced myself, though I'm sure my reputation precedes me." He grinned that cocky grin again and stuck out his hand to shake. "Lavi Bookman, nice to meet ya!"

"Allen Walker," Allen replied, giving the other boy's hand a firm shake. "All right, look—" he started to say, but was cut off when Lavi wrapped an arm tightly around his neck.

"Why weren't you at the party, dude?" Lavi whined. "Lenalee said she invited you, but you never showed! I almost came over to ask what was up, but then some stuff happened, and the beer pong table broke, which is such a tragedy because I made that thing myself! I wanted to get to know my awesome new neighbor and to thank you for handling what's-her-face this morning!"

"Chomesuke?" Allen supplied.

"Yeah, that crazy chick! Seriously dude, I think she's stalking me, and that is just not cool. I need to spread the love around, you know, but I don't think I can bring myself to spread it to her. She may shank me or something. Pull my skin off and wear it, all S_ilence of the Lambs_-like."

Allen had no idea what this guy was talking about.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Allen confided, attempting to struggle out of the taller boy's grip. But Lavi was a lot stronger and just ended up pulling him even closer. Allen's nose filled with the scent of beer, barbeque potato chips, and Axe body wash.

"Dude. Seriously. Why did you bail on the party? No one ever bails on my parties, because my parties are the shit. I'm all offended now."

"Well, I don't know," Allen drawled. "Kanda did threaten to kill me if I showed my face."

"Oh, so you met Kanda, didja? He threatens to kill everybody," Lavi said, waving a hand. "That's the only way he knows how to communicate.

"Okay…"

"Were you worried Chomesuke might be there? Lenalee told me what she told you, and I can see why you'd want to avoid her. Not as much as I want to avoid her though—no way she's invited to any parties over here ever again. So you don't have to worry about that." He shook Allen's shoulders before giving him a friendly squeeze. "Or are you just shy? 'Cuz there's no need to be shy around me—since we're neighbors, it means we're automatically friends based on proximity alone. So. The next time I have a party, you are going to come to it. If you don't, I will break into your house and drag you out in your pajamas if I have to. Nice look, by the way," he added, raising an eyebrow.

It was then that Allen realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers that had penguins all over them. He blushed.

"Uh, these were a gift," Allen explained.

"Sure," Lavi chuckled. Then he cupped his hand over his mouth and yelled "hey! They're gone now, so get the hell off of Allen's porch. Seriously, anyone who hides there again is in so much trouble!"

"Sorry Lavi! Sorry Allen!" came Lenalee's voice as she sprinted across the yard and into the back door of her own house. Allen could make out the vague shapes of the other party-goers as they dispersed and sneaked off down the alleyway.

"What the hell are you yelling about out here?" Kanda growled, appearing out of nowhere. "Beansprout! Didn't I tell you I'd kill you if you showed your face here? And where are your clothes?"

"Shut up!" Allen snapped. "I'm technically on my own property, so lay off!"

"Dude!" Lavi gasped. "You just talked back to Yu! You are so dead now!"

"I talked back to myself?" Allen frowned. "What?"

"Nah, Kanda's first name is Yu. Y-U. But he's all Japanese and shit, so he likes to be called by his last name."

"Then why don't you do it, you stupid rabbit?" Kanda snarled.

"But 'Yu' is so much cuter!" Lavi protested.

_Stupid rabbit?_ Allen thought. _Where does this guy come up with all of these weird nicknames?_

"Anyway," Lavi said, finally releasing Allen's shoulders. "We should go back home now, and let you get to sleep." He started walking back toward his own house, but turned around and pointed a threatening finger at Allen. "Next party, you better be there. Or I'll come find you. Got it?" Then he smiled brightly and grabbed Kanda by the wrist. "C'mon, Yu, let's make a pizza!"

"I don't like pizza," Kanda griped as Lavi dragged him away. "And don't invite that stupid beansprout over to our house! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Aww, come on Yu! He seems like such a riot! Don't threaten him anymore, 'kay?"

"Like I'd listen to you, you stupid—" and the door slammed shut behind them, blocking the rest of Kanda's insult.

Allen trekked back into his own house, stopping briefly to examine the tear in the screen that was allowing drunken college students access to his private property. He'd need to call about getting that fixed in the morning.

He collapsed onto his bed and threw his right arm over his eyes. He lay like that for half an hour before sighing in defeat.

"I'll never get to sleep tonight."

* * *

Ta da! Man, this was kind of a long chapter. I already have chapter three written, I'm just editing it now. I don't have a beta, so if there are any typos or whatnot that I didn't catch, please let me know! As always, reviews are much appreciated, and concrit is welcome!


	3. Visitors

Hi again!

This is the fastest update I've ever done ever. Aren't I efficient? I had this chapter written already, so I thought "what's the point of waiting a week"? I also already have chapter four written, and it is significantly longer than my other chapters. Which is good, because it'll make up for the shortness of this chapter. Nothing too exciting happens in this one, but it sets up action that will happen later, so its still important. Chapter five is currently under construction as well.

Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed. They give me the warm fuzzies, they really do :)

Disclaimer: I don't own D Gray-man.

* * *

When she'd run off, Chomesuke had said that she'd be back to hear everything Lavi had told Allen about his feelings for her (which Allen now knew for absolute certain were non-existent). He did not think that she meant she'd be back the very next day, and he certainly couldn't have guessed that she'd pound on his front door at six-thirty in the morning.

"Wake up, Allen!" she called. "I know you're in there!"

"Why is this happening to me?" Allen groused, sliding out from beneath his covers. He pulled on a random t-shirt and a pair of shorts and padded down the stairs. He'd finally fallen asleep around 4:30, and was in the middle of a pleasant dream about cake and normal, quiet neighbors when he'd been shocked awake by Chomesuke's overzealous knocking.

"Open the door!" she screamed.

"I'm coming!" Allen screamed back. He threw open the door and scowled at her. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's morning! Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!" Chomesuke giggled. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Allen sighed, then moved aside to allow her entrance. He had no idea why he was doing this. Too nice for his own good, he decided. He'd have to work on that.

"So?" she said, jumping up onto the couch and pulling back his curtains to gaze at Lavi's house. It was silent and all the lights were off.

_Still sleeping,_ Allen thought jealously.

"So what?" Allen asked, lying on the floor with his arms and legs splayed out. He had no inclination toward decency or politeness at this juncture. He was far too exhausted for that.

"All partied out?" Chomesuke asked, glancing at him briefly before turning back to stare out the window.

"I didn't go to the party," Allen said flatly.

"What!" Chomesuke cried, hopping off the couch and looming over him. "But-but-but you said you'd talk to Lavi for me!"

"Yeah, well," Allen said. "His roommate threatened to murder me if I set foot on the property. So."

"Lenalee?" Chomesuke said, taken aback. "But I've heard that she's such a nice person!"

"No, not Lenalee." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "That pony-tailed jerk, Kanda."

"Oh. Yeah, he's not very nice. He always yells at me when I come to the door to see Lavi." She pouted.

"Yeah."

"So you didn't talk to Lavi at all?"

He didn't really feel like explaining the conversation he'd had with the red-haired boy at nearly 3AM, as he had been wearing nothing but his boxers while Lavi practically had him in a headlock. Now that Allen thought about it, that whole situation had been really, very weird.

"Nope. Sorry," he said instead.

"Damn," Chomesuke whispered. "Hey, do you know if they remembered to lock the back door last night after the party was over?"

"What?" Allen asked. "Why would I know that?"

"Well, sometimes they forget. I just thought that maybe I could get into the kitchen and make Lavi breakfast in bed." She sighed rapturously. "Do you have a garden? I want to put a flower in a vase for him."

"You need to leave my house now," Allen said abruptly, sitting up from the floor and pointing to the front door. "That was really creepy, Miss Chomesuke, and it is far too early in the morning for me to be able to handle this situation with any amount of tact. So please, go home and get some more rest."

And Chomesuke began to cry. Loudly.

"Damn," Allen grumbled.

"I-I-I thought you'd he-he-help meeeeeee!" she keened. "You seem like such a ni-ni-nice boy!"

"Oh, miss, please don't cry," Allen begged. "Look, how about this. I'll talk to Lenalee about it today. She lives with him, I'm sure she'll know his thoughts on the subject. Does that sound good?"

As Chomesuke nodded and gave him a wet smile, he wondered (not for the first time) why he was going through all of the trouble to be nice to her. She was obviously crazy. She was talking about breaking into Lavi's house. She was sitting up on the back of his couch again, peering out the window at said house like the frightening stalker she was. And yet every time she started to cry, Allen felt like a monumental asshole.

"This whole situation will not end well for me," Allen predicted quietly to himself.

"Would you like me to make you some breakfast, Allen?" Chomesuke asked suddenly, smiling as though she had not just been hysterically crying a minute ago. "It's the least I can do for all the help you're giving me!"

"No thanks, Chomesuke," Allen replied tiredly. In truth, Allen had no food in the house as he hadn't had time to go grocery shopping in between moving in and dealing with crazy people the previous day. "I'm still pretty tired, so I think I'm going to go back to bed."

"Right, right, you need your sleep!" Chomesuke said, bounding off the couch and heading for the door. "I'll be back later to hear how things went with Lenalee. Bye!"

"Wait! Let me just get your e-mail address and I'll send you a—" but she slammed the door and was gone. Allen slumped back down and repeatedly hit his head on the floor.

* * *

"Why are groceries so expensive?" Allen complained as he fumbled in his pockets for the keys to his back door.

After Chomesuke left, Allen had gone back to bed and slept until noon. If he'd still been living with Master Cross that decision would have cost him dearly in verbal abuse and whacks to the head, but here there was no one to yell at him for being a "lazy assed, good-for-nothing brat." That was certainly refreshing.

As Allen put away his purchases in the fridge and in the cupboard, he felt an odd sense of peace. The house next door remained quiet, probably due to the massive hangovers its occupants were undoubtedly sporting. The rest of the neighbors were puttering about in their small yards, taking their dogs to the park, or going for a jog. Everyone jogged in this town, Allen noted. Maybe he'd have to take up the hobby…

"Yeah right," he snorted to himself. Physical activity was not on Allen's list of things that were important to his everyday life.

_But eating copious amounts of food sure is,_ Allen thought gleefully, as he held up the Boston cream pie he'd found in the grocery store's bakery section. He slid it onto the middle shelf of the fridge for later consumption.

Once he'd put all of his food away, Allen decided to pick a project to work on and be a productive member of society. He went to the garage, found an old pair of hedge clippers, and proceeded to prune the overgrown hedges along the left side of his house.

"You!" an all-too-familiar voice called out. "Boy!"

Allen groaned and looked up. George was racing across the street toward him, eyes flashing manically.

"Good morning, sir," Allen smiled, trying to be polite.

"Morning?" George sneered. "It is nearly one pm, boy. Only students could think that _this_ constitutes morning." He pointed up at the sun, which was more or less directly overhead.

"Ah, yes. My apologies." Allen's eyes narrowed fractionally, but George didn't seem to notice.

"I take it you were at that obnoxiously loud party last night," George stated.

"Um, no, sir, actually I—"

"Hooligans!" George erupted, causing Allen to jump back. "No respect, I tell you."

"I concur, sir. I couldn't sleep at all last night."

"No doubt due to your advanced state of inebriation," George spat.

"Sir, I—"

"And now look at what you're doing!" He pointed an accusing finger. "Chopping Guzol's beloved hedge to death!"

"Huh?"

"Guzol loved that hedge. He just couldn't bear to cut it," George said.

_I can sure tell,_ Allen thought. _This thing is an unkempt_ _disaster._

"If he hadn't gotten sick, Guzol would still be here. He was a quiet, respectful neighbor, unlike you. Guzol wouldn't want his bushes destroyed, so I won't let you touch them." And he attempted to tug the clippers out of Allen's hands.

"Mr. George!" Allen exclaimed, pulling them back. "This is no longer Guzol's property. It belongs to me, and I will do with it as I see fit. Now, release the clippers."

"Are you telling me what to do?" George raged.

At this point, Allen had had enough. "Yes, I am. This is my property, you don't have any say in what I do with it, so kindly leave."

"I knew you couldn't be trusted," George said. "Yes, this will definitely be brought up at the neighborhood meeting. You are not invited, you OR that red-headed fiend. If you darken my doorstep, I will have no choice but to call the police."

And he ran back across the street, nose in the air.

_Like I want to go to your insane neighborhood meeting anyway,_ Allen thought, resuming his snipping with much more force than was necessary. He briefly considered ripping the hedge out altogether, just to be annoying, then decided against it. It was a rather nice hedge, after all.

"Just ignore him," a raspy voice recommended.

"I'm sorry?" Allen replied, turning toward the sound of the voice. Why were people always sneaking up on him around here?

"George. Thinks he runs the neighborhood, but he doesn't speak for all of us." A short, elderly woman stood on the sidewalk in front of Allen's house, eyeing him critically.

"Oh," Allen said, not really knowing how to respond.

"You seem like a nice boy," the woman added. "You can just call me Mother. Everyone does."

"Okay. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mother. My name is Allen Walker." He strode forward and proffered his hand, which she shook surprisingly firmly for a woman of her age. Allen made a mental note not to think of her as some fragile thing.

"Allen Walker? You wouldn't happen to be Cross' boy, would you?"

Allen nearly fell down. "He's my godfather, actually. How do you know him?"

"We used to be close," she said cryptically. Then she frowned, seeing Allen's face. "Not like _that,_ boy, get your mind out of the gutter. I was something of a benefactor for him. Lord knows the man needed one."

"Right," Allen said faintly.

"Well, you do seem to be as polite as Cross said you were," Mother croaked. "I'll speak up on your behalf at the meeting. I have a lot of pull around here, maybe even more than George, though he won't admit it. I live right over there, so if you ever need anything, just give me a holler." She pointed with her gnarled brown cane at a small white house surrounded by a cheerful garden and a clean picket fence. It was right on the other side of Lavi's. Allen raised his eyebrows at the many beer cans that had ended up among Mother's daisies.

"You live next to Lavi, too?" Allen asked.

"Yep," Mother replied shortly.

"You'd think you'd be angrier with students than George is."

"Yeah, well. We live in a college town, what do these people expect? They're lucky the neighborhood has as few student houses in it as it does. I raised five boys, I don't mind noise. And Lavi always makes it up to me by cleaning up the mess and helping me in my garden. He's such a nice boy."

"Yeah, that does sound nice," Allen agreed. "I could help too, if you ever needed it."

Mother smiled at him. "Well, aren't you sweet? Take care now, I'm off for my walk." She continued to stroll down the sidewalk, lifting her cane when Allen shouted goodbye.

"She was a nice lady," Allen mused to himself. "And now my mood is back up. I wonder what will come along to ruin it this time."

* * *

Allen got his answer around three that afternoon. He was just contemplating strolling over to discuss Chomesuke and her special brand of crazy with Lenalee when there was a rhythmic knock at his front door. He set down his crossword and went to the door. He had to bite back a sigh when he saw who it was.

"Hey there, neighbor!" Lavi greeted vibrantly. "Mind if I come in?" He pushed past Allen without waiting for an answer. Allen shut the door behind him and followed silently.

"Wow, your place sure is nice! You're a good little decorator, dude." He examined the antique coffee table Allen had picked up cheap at a flea market. "Swank."

"Indeed," Allen replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I said I'd stop by when I had time, didn't I?" Lavi replied, wandering into the kitchen. "You have a dishwasher! Mind if I bring some of my plates over? Yu always puts gross Japanese crap on them and then makes me wash them and we don't have a dishwasher and it is just nasty."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Allen said, following after the taller boy as he poked his head down into the basement. He flicked the light switch, but the room remained dark.

"Dude, your light doesn't work."

"I'm aware," Allen said.

"Are you in a bad mood or something?" Lavi asked, tilting his head.

"A bit, actually," Allen said as civilly as possible.

"Why? Did Chomsky or whatever her name was show up again?"

"Chomesuke," Allen corrected. "And yes, she did."

Lavi winced. "Ah, man, that is so not on. What did she want?"

"To know your feelings for her," Allen said. "Which I did not tell her, because she was crying all over the place already and really, it is not my job to do this." He gave the redhead a pointed look.

Lavi had the grace to look embarrassed. "Yeah, sorry about that. It's just, I'm not very good at rejecting people, you know? I hate seeing them cry."

"That's very sweet. Really, it is," Allen said. "But your avoidance of this issue has resulted in it being foisted upon me. And that is something I do not enjoy."

"You talk kinda funny," Lavi declared.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Allen asked hotly.

"Nothing," Lavi responded, brushing past him to investigate the stairs. He started to climb them, calling over his shoulder, "so your bedroom is up here, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't say you could go up there!"

"I'm just going to take a quick look. No need to freak out."

Allen snorted, following him.

"Dude!" Lavi exclaimed, pointing excitedly out of Allen's window. "Your room is right across from mine! We can totally talk to each other and stuff. Get those cans attached to a string or use flashlights for Morse code!"

The white haired boy stared blankly at him for a moment before exhaling noisily. "Sure, Lavi, whatever."

"Neat!" Lavi beamed. Then he stopped and frowned. "Why are there pillows and blankets stuffed into your windows? Don't like the light? Are you a vampire or something?" He turned and eyed Allen suspiciously.

"No, I was attempting to soundproof the room."

"Why would you need to do that?"

Allen just looked at him.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"That's why you should have come to the party!" Lavi announced, rounding on him. "If you were hanging out with us, you wouldn't have been bothered by the noise. You would have been contributing to it!" He smiled like he'd just discovered the cure for cancer.

And as stupid as it was, Allen couldn't really argue with that line of reasoning. He just shrugged weakly and said "maybe next time?"

"No, dude, _definitely_ next time," Lavi corrected. "Remember? I will kidnap you out of your own house. Don't think I won't."

Lavi inspected Allen's office, which he determined to be "kickass," and then the bathroom, which was "lame, dude, what's with this wallpaper?"

Then he decided that it was time for him to go. "Things to see, people to do, if you know what I mean." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"No, no, wait," Allen said, grabbing him by the elbow before he could escape.

Lavi looked back at him, surprised. "Look, I know how awesome it is to spend time with me, and I can see why you'd want to do it some more, but it'll have to be another time, okay?"

"We need to discuss this Chomesuke situation," Allen said, ignoring the comment. "I can't keep running interference for you."

"Why not? It's working out pretty well right now."

"Yeah, for you!" Allen snapped. "The next time she shows up on my doorstep, I am sending her over to your house." Lavi paled, but Allen continued. "You will be home. You will answer the door yourself. You will deal with this situation. Understand?"

"Well, since you put it like that," Lavi said nervously, pulling at the hand that held his arm. "Dude, you're squashing my elbow."

"Do you agree to handle this?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Man, you sure are persuasive."

"I try."

Lavi blinked, then laughed happily. It was an infectious sound, and if Allen hadn't been so annoyed at the one-eyed boy he probably would have laughed along.

"You really are a riot! I don't know why Yu has such a problem with you. You're great!"

"Uh, thanks?"

Lavi ruffled Allen's hair affectionately. "We'll be good friends, yeah?"

Allen smiled grudgingly. "Sure."

"Sweet."

And with that Lavi was out the door. Allen felt slightly better about the whole situation. The older boy was going to take responsibility for the whole affair, and Allen would be off the hook. Simple as that.

Or so he thought. Little did Allen Walker know, Chomesuke was the least of his problems.

* * *

Yay un-subtle foreshadowing! I've always wanted to write a cliche, cheesy line like that. So here you go! Chapter four should be up in a few days, I think. Just need to edit and whatnot. As always, reviews are much appreciated!


	4. Just an Innocent Lunch Between Friends

Man, I'm on a roll here!

I'm pretty proud of myself for having these chapters up so quickly. I made a sort of rule for myself: I can't upload a chapter until I have at least a rough draft of the next one written. So, chapter 5 is written, I'll just need a day or two to edit it. So you should be hearing from me again pretty soon.

Also, to my reviewers: you make my life. Seriously, the reviews I got for chapter 3 are the nicest reviews I've ever gotten on any fanfic ever. You rock-moral of the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man.

* * *

It was the first day of classes and Allen was nervous as hell. College, he knew, was a lot different than high school. The expectations were higher, the work was harder, and the professors were tougher. But Allen Walker had always loved learning—especially the fact that he now possessed knowledge he couldn't even have fathomed only a few moments before. Black Order U was a different world, but he was ready for it.

"Bring it on!" Allen whispered to himself. A girl in a blue sweater eyed him uncertainly and picked up her pace to get away from him.

_Note to self: _Allen thought, embarrassed. _Do not talk to yourself in public._

He was walking to class this morning, since campus wasn't far and the weather was beautiful. Most students would lament the fact that they were saddled with a 7:45 history class, but Allen didn't mind. He had signed up for all morning classes so that he could have his afternoons free to study and to explore the town. Most of the students trudging along the sidewalk moved like zombies from an old horror movie, but Allen had a noticeable spring in his step. The kids around him could not comprehend his excitement.

"Freshman," one of them muttered.

Allen made his way around the football stadium and toward the history building. He reached the large double doors with an air of eager anticipation, and pushed them open with a bit more force than he had intended.

"Hey, watch it!" shouted the boy he'd almost smacked in the face.

"I'm so sorry, I guess I just—"

"Che, it's the beansprout."

"Oh. Kanda," Allen intoned. "You know what, I take it back. I'm not sorry. In fact, walk back over here so I can hit you properly."

"You did not say what I think you just said," Kanda growled, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Allen was unaffected. "Wow, deaf _and_ dumb. How did you even get into college?"

"It is far too early," Kanda began, shaking in anger, "to deal with you right now. I will kick your ass later."

"Oh, and when would that be, hmm? Details, Kanda. These are important when making plans, you know."

"I can do it any time I damn well please. You forget, brat." He smiled victoriously. "I know where you live."

The smug smile slid from Allen's face.

"Che," Kanda scoffed, and stalked away.

Allen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, this is not how I wanted to start my first day of classes."

"Kid," someone barked. "Get the hell out of the way. You're blocking the door."

Oh, well, so he was. Allen blushed and apologized before bolting into the building and racing up the nearest flight of stairs. Unfortunately, Allen had been born with a lousy sense of direction. By the time he reached the right classroom, the clock read 7:44.

"Just barely made it," Allen breathed, sliding into the last vacant seat. It was in the back of the room, which was less than ideal, but one of the good things about Black Order U was the small class sizes. Even though this was a freshman history course, there were only about sixty students in the class. This was opposed to the four hundred students that filled auditorium-style lecture halls at other universities. Another aspect of his school's small size that Allen liked was the fact that every class was taught by professors instead of grad school-level TAs.

The classroom consisted of three tiers that rose toward the back of the room, like risers. Allen was on the last tier, at the far left. There was a girl sitting in the desk to his right, chewing on her sweatshirt strings and staring vacantly at the map of Medieval Europe that hung at the front of the room. To Allen's left there was nothing—just a large empty space, as though two or three desks had been removed. It left him feeling a little off balance, but he could deal with it for today. He'd just have to get there earlier on Wednesday to get a better seat.

"Hello, class," greeted an elderly gentleman with long white hair. He was standing at the front of the room, though Allen hadn't seen him arrive. He snapped to attention, pulling out his 3-subject notebook and his favorite pen.

"My name is Professor Yaeger," the man continued. "This is History 101: Global Origins of the Modern World. The first thing I'm going to do is send around a sheet of paper that has a seating chart on it. You will sign your name on the slot that corresponds to the seat you are sitting in. This is the space you will occupy for the duration of the semester."

_What?_ Allen thought, bewildered. _A seating chart? What is this, fifth grade?_

"This is in order for me to better learn your names, as well as to help our TA hand out papers and tests and so forth." Professor Yaeger noticed the class' quizzical looks and explained. "I will be teaching the class, but I will be having a third year undergraduate student assist me in things such as grading papers and answering student questions. Which reminds me." He turned to the classroom door, which had been left slightly ajar. "You may come in now."

The door swung open all the way and Allen couldn't help but give a small groan. There in the doorway was none other than his obnoxious neighbor, Lavi Bookman. The redhead waved jauntily to the class.

"Mr. Bookman here is a history major and has already begun work on his senior thesis. Which is quite good, I might add." Professor Yaeger smiled fondly at him.

Lavi ducked his head and scuffed the ground with a booted foot. "Aww, thanks Professor Y."

"Oh my god, he is so hot," the girl sitting next to Allen murmured to no one in particular, still chewing on her shirt. Allen slapped his hand over his face and groaned again.

"Mr. Bookman will attend all of our classes. If you have a question about the material and I am not available, please see him."

"So I should just sit anywhere?" Lavi asked.

Professor Yaeger nodded. The majority of the girls in the room sat up straighter and smiled. Lavi smiled back, his single green eye roaming the area for a place to sit. He began to make his way to a seat next to a girl in the front row, which Allen silently berated himself for not seeing when he first rushed into the room. Said girl was slowly beginning to hyperventilate, smile wide enough to crack her face.

_What the hell is wrong with these girls?_ Allen wondered. _He's just a guy. A really stupid guy. I don't get it._

As Allen continued to ponder this, Lavi's eye finally fell on him. His face broke out into a smile that made the sweatshirt-chewing girl gasp.

"Neighbor!" Lavi called, waving. Every eye in the room snapped to Allen, who tried to sink low in his chair to avoid being seen. Lavi bounded over to him, smiling that wide smile. "Mind if I sit over here?"

"What are you going to do," Allen mumbled. "Sit on the floor?"

"You're right," he replied, frowning. "Professor Y, where did the desks that used to be over here go?"

"Professor Tiedoll borrowed them for his art class. Something about still life and needing a solid surface on which to place a bowl of fruit."

"I'll just use this for now," Lavi said, racing back to the front of the room. He seized a rolling desk chair and proceeded to drag it back up the three tiers and situate it next to Allen's desk. He flashed Allen another smile and gave Professor Yaeger a thumbs-up. "Ready to go, teach."

Allen thought that the venerable old professor would be annoyed with Lavi's antics, but he just smiled and began writing something on the whiteboard.

"I didn't know you were in this class!" Lavi whispered excitedly. "Now we get to see each other every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:45 to 8:50. Isn't that awesome?"

"Yeah," Allen whispered back distractedly, leaning around the tall boy wearing headphones who was sitting in front of him so that he could see the board.

"I didn't know you were into history," Lavi continued. "Is that going to be your major? We could be in the same department!"

"I'm just taking this as a gen ed requirement. I don't have a major yet," Allen replied, scribbling something about Ancient Mesopotamia in his notes. "Could you please be quiet? I'm trying to learn some things, here."

"You don't have a major yet?" Lavi repeated, incredulous. The girls in the row ahead of them turned around and looked at him. He just smiled that charming smile of his and they all turned back around, blushing furiously.

"No, I'm undecided. What does that say?" Allen muttered this last part to himself, squinting, but Lavi answered anyway.

"The Tigris and Euphrates rivers," he said, barely glancing at the board.

"Thanks."

"No prob. But seriously, you came to college not even knowing what you want to do?"

"A lot of people do that," Allen said defensively, turning to look at the taller boy for the first time since he'd sat down. He was wearing a dark blue button up shirt with the top two buttons open and a pair of crisp khakis. His wild red hair hung loosely and framed his face, freed from the strange green scale-patterned headband that had held it up every other time Allen had seen him. He actually looked rather nice and respectable, Allen thought.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would. You seem like you've got it all together, you know?"

"Well, I don't. Now shut up. I'm learning."

Lavi chuckled quietly and did as he was told. For about four minutes.

"Hey, what time do you get done with classes today?"

"Wha?" Allen whispered, copying Professor Yaeger's rough sketch of Egypt.

"When are you done with class?" Lavi wasn't annoyed that he had to repeat himself. In fact, he seemed supremely amused at Allen's level of concentration.

"Oh. Noon. Why?"

"That's when I'm done, too! You wanna grab lunch with me? I can show you all the best places to eat on campus!"

Allen eyed him doubtfully. "Are you asking me on a date?"

Lavi blanched. "Dude, no! I thought I would be nice to my new neighbor, show you around a little. No need to get all weird on me."

Allen giggled. "I was just teasing you, Lavi. Calm down."

The redheaded boy relaxed. "Don't scare me like that, dude."

"Sorry," Allen grinned, obviously not sorry at all. He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and when he turned to his right he saw sweatshirt-girl glaring bloody murder at him. It probably wasn't for talking during class, Allen decided, because she hadn't even opened the purple notebook that sat on her desk. He hastily turned back to the whiteboard and focused on note-taking.

_Note to self part two: When it comes to Lavi, all girls become terrifying._

Lavi stayed quiet for the rest of the class period, occasionally staring around the room or leaning over Allen's shoulder to see what he was writing. When Professor Yaeger dismissed the class and everyone began to pack up, Lavi picked up Allen's backpack and unzipped it for him.

"What are you doing?" Allen hissed, snatching it back. "This is mine."

"I was just helping! No need to get all protective. Unless…" Lavi looked at him slyly, making another grab for Allen's bag. "You have something in there you don't want me to see."

"No, I don't," Allen said, holding the bag just out of Lavi's reach. "I just don't like other people touching my stuff."

"Uh huh," Lavi said doubtfully. "And now my curiosity is piqued. Shouldn't have done that, beansprout. I'm a very curious person by nature, and I won't stop until I figure something out."

"There is nothing to figure out. I just didn't want you stealing my stuff."

"That hurts, buddy!" Lavi cried, placing a hand over his heart. "I would never take your stuff. Friends don't steal their friends' stuff. That is not what friendship is all about."

And there he was talking about being friends again. Allen had only spoken to Lavi a handful of times, and he didn't really know that much about him. He couldn't say that he really counted him as a friend yet, especially since he spent most of his time being annoying.

"All right, Mr. Rogers," Allen finally said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and beginning to walk out the door. "I have to get to my bio lecture now. Where should I meet you?"

Lavi grinned again, jogging after him. "I'll meet you at the Student Union. All the best places to eat are in there."

"But aren't I supposed to go eat at the Ark?"

"Dude, no," Lavi said, sticking out his tongue. "They make all the freshmen eat there, which is total crap because that food is nasty."

"But my meal plan doesn't allow me to eat at the Union until after 6:30 at night," Allen said.

"But you'll be with me!" Lavi said, catching up and wrapping an arm around Allen's shoulders.

_This guy has no respect for my personal space,_ Allen thought, irritated. He noticed that the majority of the girls in his class were still standing next to their desks, staring suspiciously at Allen and Lavi as they walked past. Allen felt his face heat up.

"So I should meet you at the Union around 12:15?" Allen asked quietly. "It'll give us both time to walk over there."

"Sounds good to me! I'll see you then!" Then Lavi ran off, smiling at Allen over his shoulder as he went.

* * *

"But the growth was a lot larger than they originally thought. So something that was supposed to be a one day out-patient procedure ended up taking two days and I had to be in the hospital the whole time."

Allen groaned and slammed his head down on the surface of the table he was sitting at. He really, really, really didn't want to hear any more of this story.

"I would drive three hours for a toothpick. They need to have the right consistency. This place I go to, they have this variety pack where they have all different kinds of toothpicks in one case. One hundred toothpicks in there, and they're all made from different kinds of wood."

Well, this story wasn't any better.

_Where the hell are you, Lavi?_ Allen thought impatiently.

The old man at the table behind him laughed wheezily and continued his story about toothpicks. Allen attempted to tune him out, but to no avail.

_What is this old man doing in the _student_ union? Is he one of those non-traditional students, who comes back to college when they're seventy? He really needs to get out of here before I go insane and murder him._

"He's not a very good driving companion, though," the old man was saying. "He never talks! I need someone who is a good conversationalist."

Allen turned slightly in his seat to glance over his shoulder at the old man. He was wearing the largest, thickest glasses Allen had ever seen. There were three other people at the table with him—a middle aged man and woman, and then a girl who looked to be his own age. The woman was hanging on the old man's every word, laughing in all the right places and making sympathetic sounds. The man was staring at the corkboard on the wall behind him that advertised all of the student organizations on campus. The girl looked about as annoyed as Allen felt. HIs heart went out to her.

"Hey there neighbor!"

Looking up, Allen actually breathed a sigh of relief when he found Lavi grinning down at him.

"You're finally here!" Allen said enthusiastically.

"Yep! Aww, did you miss me? It's only been two hours since we last saw each other." Lavi leaned down and ruffled Allen's hair.

The white-haired boy batted his hand away. "Can we just go where we're going? I'm hungry."

"Sure, sure. Come on, let's go downstairs. The place is called The Refectory and the food there is the best."

Allen stood up and began to follow after Lavi. He glanced back over his shoulder at the old man's table one last time and found the girl glowering at him. Whether it was for escaping the ridiculousness of what was probably her grandfather or for being so chummy with Lavi he wasn't sure.

_Probably a little of both,_ Allen thought, wincing as he turned to catch up with the older boy.

"So, that old guy sure was annoying, wasn't he?"

"I thought I was going to have to kill him," Allen admitted.

Lavi laughed loudly. "Man, you're almost as violent as Yu. Who knew?"

"I don't think anyone's as violent as Kanda," Allen disagreed.

"That's why I said almost."

They took the stairwell down to the basement, then took a narrow winding corridor that went past the bookstore. They ended up at a good-sized restaurant style dining hall. Booths lined the walls and clean wooden tables filled the center of the space. The right corner of the room was occupied by a small, low stage. A large screen rose behind it, which was currently displaying a random football game. A table full of jersey-wearing boys was shouting excitedly at the action.

"Welcome to The Refectory," Lavi said proudly, bowing slightly to Allen like a butler would. "This is where all the cool kids, namely me, go to get food on campus. Come on, let's go order."

Allen nodded and followed Lavi to a long counter. The entire menu was written on boards that hung along the wall behind it. The place had burgers, wraps, sandwiches, calzones, nachos, tacos… Allen was overwhelmed by choices.

"Do you know what you want?" Lavi asked.

"Uh, give me a minute," Allen said distractedly.

Lavi chuckled and walked up to the counter. "Hey Jerry."

"Lavi!" a dark skinned man shouted happily. His long hair was pulled back into low pigtails and wrapped with what looked to Allen like pink string. He was holding a whisk for some reason, and he waved it excitedly at the redhead. "Long time no see! How was your first day of classes?"

"It was all right," Lavi said dismissively. "Left me pretty hungry, though."

"What can I get you? Anything you want!"

Lavi placed his order, Jerry scribbling frantically, then swiped his ID card. He turned to Allen, who was looking at him curiously. "You need to swipe your card into this reader so you can use a meal from your plan. If you don't you have to pay for it with cash, and that sucks."

"Okay," Allen said, digging in his pocket for his ID badge.

"Who is this, Lavi?" Jerry asked, leaning against the counter and smiling at Allen.

"Oh Jerry, this is Allen Walker. He's my new neighbor. He's just a freshman, but I didn't want to subject him to the gross food at the Ark. I figured you could hook him up with some of your excellent cooking."

"Pleased to meet you, sir," Allen greeted, smiling politely.

Jerry's eyes widened and he slapped his hands against his cheeks. "Oh, you are such a cutie! Well, any friend of Lavi's is a friend of mine. Anything you want, honey. I won't tell anyone."

Allen thanked him and placed his order, which was quite large. Lavi stared at him in surprise. "You think you can eat all of that, beansprout?"

Allen glared at him. "Don't call me beansprout. You're as bad as Kanda. And yes, I can eat all of that. I have a really fast metabolism."

"Leave him alone, Lavi," Jerry admonished, eyes sparkling. "I like a boy with a healthy appetite. I'll have your orders up soon. Here are your numbers." He handed them each a slip of paper with a number printed on it in red ink, then disappeared into the kitchen.

"When the food is done, your number will show up on that board up there," Lavi explained as they walked toward the drink machine, pointing up at an electronic board that was flashing the numbers 33 and 34. "I'm 36, so that means you're 37. When your number comes up, take your ticket to that other counter over there and get your food."

"Okay," Allen said. He grabbed a Pepsi, some napkins, and some ketchup from the condiment bar. "Where do you want to sit?"

"I have a usual booth in this place," Lavi said nonchalantly. "Most people know better than to sit there, so it should be open."

"Jeez, how much power do you wield around here?"

Lavi laughed. "Quite a bit, it would seem."

Lavi's booth was tucked back into a cozy corner, cut off from the noise of the exuberant football fans. The older boy slid onto the bench on the left side of the table, looking content. Allen sat across from him.

"How was your biology lecture?" Lavi asked, sipping his Mountain Dew.

"Boring," Allen sighed. "We just went over course expectations and talked about mitosis and other dumb stuff I already learned about in high school. Requirements suck. What about you? What did you do after History?"

"More history," Lavi said, stretching. "I am a history major, after all. I'm taking an entire class on ancient Turkey. It's really fascinating, mostly because there aren't many surviving records from that time, so a lot of what we know about the society is based largely on conjecture."

"Huh," Allen replied, a bit overwhelmed. "You really seem to like history."

"I do!" Lavi responded, leaning his chin in his hand. "Figuring out how people lived a long time ago, discovering new things about the way they did things, investigating unsubstantiated claims and determining if they're real or fake—I just find it all so fascinating."

"It's nice that you're so passionate about what you're studying," Allen stated, smiling. It was the first time he had seen the taller boy be serious about something. He found it oddly refreshing.

"What about you, Allen?" Lavi wondered. "What are you passionate about?"

"Nothing really," Allen replied immediately. "I'm just thrilled to finally be able to live on my own. I figured I'd find something interesting during my gen eds."

"You should study history with me! It would be fun. We could even go on trips to the places we're studying. I'm thinking about heading to Turkey for a few weeks this coming summer. Wanna come with me?"

"I don't speak Turkish," Allen said. "Also, your number is up."

"Oh! I'll be right back!"

After he was gone, Allen sighed in frustration. Why was Lavi being so nice to him? Why did he want to be friends with him so badly? Aside from his white hair and freaky scar (Allen impulsively raked his bangs over his left eye as he thought this) there was really nothing special about him. Was Lavi taking pity on him? Did he think that Allen seemed like such a loser that he needed his compassion?

Maybe Lavi was just a nice guy…?

_No, that can't be right. Just look at the way he treats women like Chomesuke,_ Allen thought. Originally, he'd thought that Lavi was just a minor annoyance that could be ignored and avoided, but the mystery surrounding the one-eyed boy was growing. _This deserves further investigation,_ Allen decided.

"I'm back!" Lavi declared, sliding his burger and fries onto the table. "Your order was up, too, so Jerry just gave it to me to take to you. I had to borrow a tray from him in order to carry it all. Are you sure you can eat all of this?"

"I'm sure," Allen said, taking his food. "Thank you."

"Sure thing," Lavi responded.

Allen glanced around the room as he shook salt onto his fries. A few booths away, four girls were openly staring at him. When they realized he was looking, they quickly turned away. They continued to sneak glances at him, however, deep in some sort of heated discussion.

"Hey Lavi," Allen began.

"What's up?"

"This might be a weird question, and I know I don't know you that well, but I just have to ask—"

"Oh god," Lavi said, dropping a fry and leaning back in his seat. "This is how it always starts. I thought we were cool, Allen. I thought you were just joking about the date thing in history. But you weren't, were you? Oh no. Oh shit." Then he sat forward again and stared at Allen closely. "Then again…" The redheaded boy grimaced, seemingly conflicted about something.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Allen demanded. "I was just going to ask you why every girl in this school seems to be completely obsessed with you."

"You…what?"

"I mean, I hate to hurt your feelings, but I just don't get what they see in you."

"Oh, that's what you wanted to ask?" The red-haired boy looked relieved. And maybe a bit disappointed.

"Well, yeah. What did you think I was talking about?"

"Nothing! Never mind!" He waved his hands in a placating genture.

Allen narrowed his eyes. "You're being very suspicious."

"Wait, what do you mean you don't see what they see in me? They see what everyone else sees—undeniable sexiness," Lavi insisted.

"Yikes," was all Allen could say.

"You sure are mean," Lavi pouted.

"Every time I hang out with you, I get glared at by every girl I see. It's making me really uncomfortable, so you'll have to forgive me for being blunt."

"Girls are glaring at you?" Lavi asked, as if he hadn't noticed.

_He probably hasn't,_ Allen realized. _He's used to girls staring at him, so he doesn't even realize they're doing it._

"Yeah. Lenalee told me you were popular, but I didn't realize to what extent."

"You were gossiping about me with Lenalee?" Lavi said, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow.

"She was telling me about the neighborhood," Allen explained. "And you didn't answer my question."

Lavi sighed dramatically and spread his hands. "What can I say, Allen? I am very handsome and completely charming. How can the ladies resist me?"

"I haven't the foggiest," Allen said drily. "As you're obviously also incredibly modest."

"Um, excuse me. Lavi?"

Both boys looked up. One of the girls Allen had noticed earlier was standing next to their table, looking nervous but determined.

"Yes?" Lavi all but purred, smiling appealingly. "Can I help you?"

"Um," the girl stammered. "I was just wondering…well…_we _were just wondering if…" she trailed off, glancing furtively at Allen.

Lavi reached out and took her hand. "What's your name?"

"M-Mei Ling," the girl said. She looked like she was about to faint.

"You shouldn't worry," Lavi assured her. "Allen here and I are just friends."

The girl smiled, seemingly relieved. "Oh, okay. We just wanted to know if—"

"What are you doing tonight?" Lavi cut in.

"N-n-nothing," Mei Ling said, wide-eyed.

"How would you like to have dinner with me?" Lavi flashed a heart-melting smile.

"I would like that very much," Mei Ling whispered.

"Great! Here's my cell number. Text me later, okay?" He handed her a slip of notebook paper with a ten digit number scribbled on it.

"Okay, I will!" Mei Ling breathed, rushing back to her friends. A moment later, a chorus of squeals erupted from the booth they occupied.

"You are ridiculous," Allen said reproachfully.

"Hey, I have a reputation to maintain. Maybe I shouldn't be seen with you so much." He regarded the white-haired boy thoughtfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"But that's not fair. I like hanging out with you. You're fun."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't get it?" Lavi chuckled. "Man, that is too funny."

"What?"

"Those girls. They thought that you and I were on a date."

"EH!"

"My sentiments exactly."

"Why the hell would they think that? We're both guys!"

Lavi gave him a pointed look. "Well, you _are_ pretty cute. I could do worse, that's for sure. In fact, I _have_ done worse." He shuddered. "I blame gin for that. Gin and I are not friends. Remind me never to drink it again."

Allen just stared at him, openmouthed and horrified.

"Hey, don't look so freaked out. I'm getting kind of offended over here."

Still, Allen said nothing.

"Here, how about this. I'm having a party this Friday. You're coming to it, obviously, because I will fricking find you if you try to ditch. At this party, there will be a lot of girls. I'll find you one. Sort of a peace offering, yeah? Will that make you feel better?"

"You're going to _give_ me a girl?" Allen said, incredulous.

"Well, when you say it like that it sounds so…"

"Sleazy?" Allen supplied.

"Yeah. So, interested?" Lavi smiled widely at him.

"Nope."

"How could you not be interested in that? I can get you any girl you want! So you really aregay," Lavi mused.

"No! I just think it is disrespectful and misogynistic to treat women like that, that's all," Allen explained, annoyed.

"Oh, so you're one of those," Lavi cackled. "That's how I was too when I first came to school here. But chivalry is dead, buddy. You'll see what I mean at the party."

Allen pushed his empty tray away and stretched. "I think I'm starting to dread this party."

"Dude! Don't even say that! My parties are the greatest. You will have the best time ever. I'll personally make sure of it." Lavi clenched his fist in determination.

The shorter boy laughed. "All right, I'll hold you to it." In truth, Allen was dying of curiosity. He was anxious to observe Lavi in his natural environment. He was certain to learn a lot about his enigmatic new "friend."

"Also, how the hell did you have time to eat all of that? We were talking pretty much the whole time?" Lavi wondered, disbelieving.

"I told you I could eat all of it."

"You're a strange person, Allen Walker. Interesting, but so strange." Lavi sat back and placed his hands behind his head, regarding Allen closely.

"You're one to talk," was all Allen said.

The taller boy grinned, standing up. "Well, this was fun. I'll probably see you later today. I need to go chat with Lenalee. I'm thinking Friday's party should have a theme. Whaddaya think?"

"Do I have to wear a costume?"

"Yep! I'll think of something fun. Last year I did a 90s party and a Jersey Shore party and all kinds of stuff. It's always a good time."

"Okay," Allen said, uncertain.

"Well, seeya later, neighbor! We should hang out more often!" Lavi grinned warmly before walking off, tossing the last of his food into the garbage can as he passed. He waved to Mei Ling, who waved back excitedly, giggling. Then he was out the door, off to who know where.

Allen sighed, ducking his head to avoid the searching gazes of the girls at Mei Ling's table.

_He could have at least walked back with me,_ Allen thought. _But then that probably would have given those crazy girls a lot to speculate about and blow out of proportion. Why would they think I'm dating Lavi, of all people? The girls at this school are crazy. _

Allen sighed again, hauling himself up and grabbing his backpack. _This whole situation is exhausting. I need a nap._

* * *

Yay! Chapter 5 should be out by Sunday, I should think. Review if you'd like; I'd really appreciate it!


	5. Under the Sea

Ta da! Chapter 5 is here!

Chapter 6 is finished and in the editing process, and chapter 7 is about a third of the way done. I am being quite efficient with this story; I think it's probably because I have a lot of fun writing it.

Once again, thank you to all of my reviewers. You guys are very helpful and supportive and I really appreciate you!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-Man.

* * *

The first thing Allen noticed as he rounded the corner onto his street was that there was someone crouching in his bushes. Again. At first he thought it might be Chomesuke continuing with her stalkerish behavior, but on closer inspection Allen realized that it was a different girl entirely. Her hair was an interesting shade of mint green (_most likely dyed_, Allen decided) and even though her back was to him, he could tell that she was wearing a maid's outfit.

For some reason.

_Maybe this has something to do with the theme of Lavi's party?_ Allen wondered. _But that can't be right. It's only Monday, and the party isn't until Friday._

"Hello?" Allen called when he was within feet of her.

She whirled around, glaring. "What?"

"Um, I was just wondering what you're doing in my bushes."

"I don't have to tell you," the girl spat, turning back around to face Lavi's house. Of course.

"Yes, you kind of do," Allen said. "This is my front yard. I would like to know why you are loitering here."

"I'm fulfilling a request from Lulubell, if you must know," she snapped, waving her pencil at him. Allen leaned over her shoulder and noticed that she was holding a small notebook and seemed to be taking notes. He glanced at Lavi's house and could just make out the shape of the exuberant redhead through the living room window. He was sitting on his couch talking animatedly with Lenalee, who was laughing. Allen felt a strong, sudden urge to join them.

"Lulubell…?" Allen trailed off invitingly.

"Yes. She said that she met this Lavi person at a party and took an interest in him. She wants me to investigate whether or not he is worth her time."

"Well, um…"

"Mimi," the girl supplied shortly, jotting something down in her notes.

"Miss Mimi, I am terribly sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"But Lulubell asked me to do this for her! I'm her best friend, and that's what best friends do! They do favors for each other!"

"I understand, but I simply can't allow you to spy on my friend over there. Especially from my own property."

"So, you're friends with him?" Mimi asked, suddenly much more polite. "That is very interesting. Maybe you could tell me more about him. What are his likes and dislikes? What kind of music does he listen to? What's his favorite movie? What about TV shows? Is he a gentleman? Is he a womanizer? Lulubell thought he might be. How fashionable would you say he is? Lulubell can't be seen with someone who dresses like a slob, you know. Is he—"

"Miss Mimi!" Allen interrupted, flustered. "I've only known him for two days. I can't answer any of those questions."

"Oh, I see," she said, her rude demeanor returning. "You're not really friends with him, then. You're one of those posers who pretends you know cool people and hopes that it'll make you cool by association. Wow, you're sure a loser." She turned away from him and pulled out her notepad again.

Allen spluttered, unsure of what to say. He glanced back up at Lavi's house to find the one-eyed boy standing at the window, head cocked curiously at him. Allen gave him a helpless expression and he could see the taller boy laughing. Then he pulled the shade, cutting off vision into the house.

"Damn!" Mimi hissed, standing abruptly. "All of your yelling drew his attention. I hope Lulubell isn't mad at me!" She whirled on Allen, brandishing the pencil threateningly. "This is all your fault, I'll have you know. Lulubell will hear about this!" She hiked up her skirt and ran off down the sidewalk.

"What the hell was that?" Allen wondered aloud to himself. He shook his head and trudged inside.

He barely had time to throw his backpack onto the coffee table before there was a boisterous knock on his front door. Assuming it was Mimi back to yell at him some more, Allen moaned and dragged his feet on the way to answer it. He was greeted instead by the wide-eyed, smiling face of Chomesuke.

_Jeez, that other crazy girl almost made me forget about this one,_ Allen thought drily.

"Hiya Allen!" Chomesuke chirped. "How've you been?"

_Well, at least this one's actually nice to me._

"Hello Miss Chomesuke," Allen greeted. "I've been well. You?"

"Fine, fine," she said flippantly. "Well? What have you learned?"

"I talked to Lavi," Allen began.

She gasped. "Really! What did he say? Does he miss me? Does he still love me?"

"I told him that you keep coming by, and that he should really talk to you himself. So we decided that the next time you came over here, I'd send you over to his house. He's there right now. If you go knock on the door, he'll talk to you."

"Are you sure?" Chomesuke was unconvinced. "Every other time I've gone over there he's sicced his scary roommate on me."

"Well, he won't this time. I made him promise."

Chomesuke looked at him, tears brimming her eyes. "Thank you, Allen. You're so kind."

And now Allen felt like a douche for badmouthing her behind her back. He couldn't look her in the eyes and think unkind thoughts about her. He really was too nice for his own good.

"Will…will you come with me? Just to make sure he's really there?"

She looked so hopeful; all Allen could do was nod.

"Yay!" She seized his arm and proceeded to drag him down his front steps, through the yard, over the bushes, and up onto Lavi's front porch. She rang the doorbell and bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet.

Lenalee opened the door, her smile faltering a bit when she saw who was standing there.

"Oh. Hello Sachiko. Allen." She raised a quizzical eyebrow at the white-haired boy. He shook his head minutely and she nodded back just as subtly, seemingly understanding. That was one of the things he liked most about Lenalee, Allen decided. She was very much in tune with how others were feeling.

"I'm here to talk to Lavi!" Chomesuke stated brightly. "He's home, isn't he?"

"Lavi is…uh…Lavi isn't…" Lenalee struggled.

"He's here," Allen said. "He told me he'd talk to Chomesuke."

Lenalee stared at him a moment before turning and calling "Lavi!" softly over her shoulder.

"Yeah?" came his voice. Chomesuke's breathing hitched.

"Door," was all Lenalee said before retreating into the depths of the house. Allen wanted nothing more than to follow her.

"What's up?" Lavi greeted, leaning against the doorframe. He slipped a bit and almost face-planted when he saw Chomesuke gazing awestruck at him, but he recovered gracefully.

"Hi Lavi," she said breathily. It was quite creepy, Allen decided.

"Well, I'm gonna go now," Allen said, a bit too loudly.

"'Kay, bye," Chomesuke said dreamily.

"Allen!" Lavi exclaimed, seeing the white-haired boy for the first time. He dashed forward and latched onto him, grinning widely. And very, very insincerely. "Where do you think you're off to?" Lavi gave him a pleading look. He looked so pathetic Allen almost wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything would be okay.

But only almost.

"Home. You and Chomesuke have a lot to talk about. In private."

Lavi stood stock still for a moment, face unreadable. Then he turned to Chomesuke and smiled kindly. "Would you like to come in? We can talk in the living room."

"Yes!" she yelped, rushing past him.

Allen turned to go, but Lavi still had a vice-grip on his arm. "Hey, let go."

"Please don't leave me," Lavi whispered.

"Wh-what?" Allen stammered, inexplicably blushing.

"Don't leave me alone with her," Lavi said, still whispering. "I—I don't think I can do this by myself."

"You're going to have to," Allen responded, face still red. _Why the hell am I blushing? Gah, this guy is so infuriating._ "Be a man, Lavi."

The redhead started, as though Allen had just backhanded him across the face. "Be…a man?"

"Yes. You need to just man up and do the right thing."

The taller boy blinked his single green eye and sighed. "You're right. Of course you're right." Lavi ruffled his hair fondly. "You're a good friend, Allen. Thanks for helping me out."

"No problem," Allen said, smiling slightly.

Lavi squared his shoulders and let out a long breath. "Okay, here goes. I'll let you know what happens, okay? You gonna be home all night?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to read chapter one for Yaeger's class. I'll be on the porch."

"I'll come over later. Wish me luck." The taller boy ruffled Allen's hair again and went back inside the house, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

* * *

"Hey neighbor, you home?"

Allen looked up from his textbook and over to where Lavi had his face pressed against the screen.

"Yeah, I'm here. You can come in."

"Sweet." Lavi walked around to the other side of the porch and pulled the door open. He collapsed onto one of Allen's flattened beanbag chairs and sighed dramatically.

"So, how'd it go?" Allen asked, marking his place in the book and setting it aside.

"Well…"

"Did you let her down gently? She didn't cry all over the place, did she?"

"You see…"

"What happened?" Allen asked with growing suspicion.

"We're going out. Thursday night. We're seeing a movie."

"WHAT?"

"What?" Lavi asked innocently, but Allen wasn't buying it. "I'm sorry, dude! She looked so happy, and then when I started giving her the 'it's not you, it's me' spiel she gave me the puppy-dog eyes, and I am a _sucker_ for the puppy-dog eyes." Allen filed this bit of information away for later exploitation and indicated for Lavi to continue. "So then I started to panic and then she launched into how much she really, truly cares about me, and then I just couldn't go through with it. So I asked her out. And now we have a date." He tilted his head back in agony, and Allen felt a small pang of sympathy for him.

Just a small one, though.

"Idiot Lavi," Allen groused. "Now she's just going to continue to stalk you, probably from my front bushes, because that seems to be where everyone stalks you from."

"Yeah," Lavi said, suddenly sitting up. "What was with that maid chick earlier? That outfit was kinda kinky. I think I liked it." He put a fist under his chin and looked up, pensive.

"Gross!" Allen cried. "What is wrong with you?"

"You don't like costumes, do you? Well too bad, because I told Lenalee about my idea for a theme party and she's totally on board. We haven't picked a theme yet, but we will. Lena's always got good ideas about this kind of thing. She is a theatre major, after all."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Allen questioned.

"She's in this really sweet costume design class. She showed me some of her drawings. They're really good."

"She can draw, too?"

"She's good at all that artsy stuff. I'm better at thinking and researching. You should see _me_ try to draw. It's pretty sad."

"Me too," Allen commiserated. "I'm awful at that stuff. I used to draw a lot when I was younger, but everyone always laughed at my pictures so I stopped doing it."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard," Lavi said. "Dude, who laughs at little kid drawings? That's just mean."

"Master," Allen grumbled.

"Did you just call me 'Master'?" Lavi asked, eye widening.

"No, no, I wasn't talking about you. Never mind."

Lavi frowned at him, disbelieving, then shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, we were talking about maid-chick before you freaked out. I've never seen her before, so I don't get why she'd be stalking me too."

"You're pretty nonchalant about the fact that you're being stalked by numerous people," Allen deadpanned.

"Eh. So, tell me about this girl. She seemed to be giving you a hard time."

"She was! Her name is Mimi, and apparently she's doing reconnaissance on you for someone named Lulubell—"

"Who is incredibly hot," Lavi broke in. "Damn, I almost don't mind being stalked if it's for Lulubell. Chick's kinda weird, though. Not really my type, personality-wise. She rarely talks, and she _never_ smiles. Who doesn't smile? Smiling is the best thing!" He demonstrated, giving Allen an excited thumbs-up.

"Right. Well, I told her that I couldn't allow her to stalk you from my property. She got all excited when I mentioned that we were friends and she started giving me the third degree about all this personal stuff about you, like your favorite movies and stuff. I don't know any of that so she got angry, called me a poser, and ran away."

"A poser?" Lavi cackled. "Oh man, that's hilarious!"

"Thank you," Allen said darkly.

"Aw, come on buddy. I'm just teasing! We'll just have to hang out more often so that we can learn that sort of thing about each other. But I gotta go now, so maybe later?" He began to rise, dusting off the back of his pants.

"Wait, where are you going?" Allen was a little surprised to discover he actually wanted the crazy redhead to stay. Growing up, he'd never really had a friend like this he could talk to. It was kind of…nice.

"Date with that chick from The Refectory. Ring-Ring or whatever."

"That is so wrong it's not even funny," Allen rebuked.

"Yeah, I'm not really good with names. Which is weird, because I have a photographic memory so I remember everything. Huh."

"Just…get out of here," Allen said tiredly.

"You're so mean! See if I hang out with you ever again."

"Lavi, I don't think I could get away from you if I tried."

"Ain't that the truth!" Lavi crowed, slapping Allen on the back. "You're stuck with me, kid. But whatever, you secretly love me."

"Nope."

The taller boy just laughed. "Seeya Wednesday in class if I don't see you tomorrow. Take care now!"

"Bye Lavi," Allen called, as his friend slammed through the porch door and trotted back to his own house.

_Yes,_ Allen thought to himself, giving a firm nod at having reached this important decision. _Lavi is my friend._

* * *

Days passed and Allen fell into a familiar, comfortable routine. He went to class, hung out with Lavi, chatted with Lenalee, did his homework, fought with Kanda, and turned a blind eye to any suspicious figures lurking in his shrubbery.

Friday afternoon found Allen lounging in his front yard, stretched out beneath the gingko trees. Lenalee sat next to him on a flowery picnic blanket that she'd spread over the grass. She regarded her sketch pad skeptically, turning it this way and that as she inspected her most recent drawing.

"It looks great, Lenalee," Allen encouraged.

"The skirt still looks weird," she said, making a face. "I think it needs to be shorter. Or longer. Or maybe a different color?"

"I think it's very well done as it is, but you're the artist. Don't second guess your talent, but if you truly feel that something is missing then you should change it."

"Thank you Allen," Lenalee said, smiling at him. "You know just what to say to encourage me."

"Che, it's a regular love fest over here," came Kanda's voice.

Both heads snapped toward him. He was walking across the yard toward them, lips twisted down in a grimace. When he locked eyes with Allen he clenched his fist and sneered.

"Hey Kanda!" Lenalee greeted brightly. "What brings you here?"

"That stupid rabbit is whining that no one is helping him set up for the party. I came out here to get you to help so he'll shut the hell up."

"All right," Lenalee agreed, hopping up. She folded the blanket and tucked it under her arm. "Come on, Allen."

The white-haired boy stood as well, picking little pieces of grass off of his shirt.

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Kanda demanded.

"Coming to help?" Allen replied.

"No way in hell I'm letting you into my house, beansprout. You're not even invited to the party, so you don't have to help. Now get back inside your own stupid house so I don't have to look at your idiotic face."

"Kanda!" Lenalee scolded, whacking him with the folded-up blanket. "Allen is too invited! He is our friend, so stop being mean to him!"

Allen expected Kanda to go ballistic on her, but he just huffed and turned away. "Whatever. Just stay out of my way, stupid beansprout." Then he stalked back into his house and slammed the door.

"He sure does hate me," Allen commented.

"He's just grumpy," Lenalee said. "One of his professors is giving him a hard time, I think."

"With the way he acts, I think it would be difficult for anyone _not_ to give him a hard time," Allen said.

"You're horrible."

Allen simply grinned. He followed her next door and up onto the porch. She pushed the door open and held it for him to follow her in, but Allen just stood in the doorway, looking a little confused.

"What's wrong?" Lenalee asked, concerned.

"I do believe this is the first time I have ever actually entered your house," Allen said, shaking his head a little. Everyone else had been inside of _his_ house, multiple times. Even Kanda, when he had come over to drag Lavi home to do his chores. "That's sort of strange, don't you think?"

"I guess," Lenalee said, moving into the house and beckoning him forward.

The living room was larger and wider than Allen's own, filled with comfortable-looking yet mismatched furniture: a long blue sofa sat next to a red and green checkered loveseat. Next to that, and furthest from the door, was a violently orange armchair.

"That's Lavi's," Lenalee said, indicating the chair.

_Of course,_ Allen thought.

"He found it on the side of the road last spring, cleaned it up, and stuck it in here. He loves that thing, though I think it's kind of gross."

"Dude, it is not gross! It's a conversation piece!" Lavi was standing in the entrance to what Allen assumed was the kitchen. "Neighbor! You actually came!"

"Well, Lenalee asked me to help," Allen said awkwardly.

"Can't say no to her, can you? Nobody can. It's like this weird magic power she has over us. I don't know how she does it." Lavi eyed her critically.

"Feminine wiles," Lenalee said, winking.

"Someone come help me with this goddamn crepe paper or I will throttle you in your sleep!" Kanda bellowed from somewhere else in the house.

"Coming!" Lenalee called, hurrying up the stairs that were to Allen's right.

"Crepe paper?" Allen said doubtfully.

"Yeah! Lena and I decided on a really sweet theme. Ready for it?" The taller boy grabbed Allen by the wrist and dragged him into the next room.

It was a dining room, of sorts. A small dinette surrounded by four chairs was shoved under the window against the far wall, with a sideboard on the other side of the room. This created a narrow passage between the living room and the kitchen. Hung from the ceiling and wound around the table and chairs was a massive amount of blue crepe paper. Thin strips of green paper hung from the arch of the doorway, and clear orbs that looked suspiciously like Christmas ornaments were stuck to the walls.

"Um," Allen said.

"It's 'Under the Sea'!" Lavi said proudly. "Lenalee painted these really awesome looking fish and sea turtles and jellyfish and stuff and we're going to tape them to the walls. We decorated all the coolers to look like treasure chests and we're serving seafood-related snacks, like goldfish crackers."

_Goldfish crackers? _Allen thought, bemused. _Well, I guess it works…_

"So where do the costumes come in?" Allen wondered.

"You can dress up as anything, as long as it's something you'd find in the ocean. Lenalee's going to be a mermaid, I'm going as Poseidon, other people are being divers and stuff. It'll be really fun!"

"What's Kanda's costume?" Allen asked curiously.

"Uh," Lavi said, scratching the back of his head. "Kanda doesn't wear costumes. We tried to force him to once, and it was a disaster. Total carnage. Not gonna do that again, little buddy, that's for damn sure."

Allen shivered. "Well, I think I'll follow his example and abstain from dressing up as well."

"What? No way! I said you have to wear a costume, so you're gonna wear a costume!"

"But!" Allen whined. "Kanda doesn't have to! Why do I?"

"Because Kanda is one scary son-of-a-bitch, and you aren't."

"I can be scary!" Allen insisted.

Lavi threw his head back and laughed. "That's something I'd love to see, dude, it really is."

Allen crossed his arms and sulked. "This is not going my way."

"It's okay," Lavi said, patting his shoulder. "And hey listen! We already have your costume all ready to go, so you don't have to worry about putting one together on such short notice!"

"You got me a costume?"

"Yeah, Lena and I picked it out. It's really awesome, don't even worry." But the look on the read-haired boy's face was beginning to make Allen nervous.

"It's really horrible, isn't it?"

"No it's not! Everyone is going to be jealous you get to look so cool."

It was official: Lavi was going to force him into something horrible. Allen just hung his head and nodded.

Over the next two and half hours, the four of them finished decorating the house. It was actually a rather clever theme, Allen had to admit. Lenalee's paintings were beautiful—though when he complimented them she just brushed it off, saying they hadn't been difficult. Allen thought that the best part of the house was the basement, which was where the laundry and storage was. It was decorated like an underwater cave, with glow-in-the-dark "urchins" scattered around. The treasure chest coolers were down there as well, making it look sort of like a pirate's cave. The middle of the room was occupied by a large wooden table with a small net across the middle of it.

"Beer pong table version 2.0," Lavi announced as Allen ran an inquisitive hand over its surface. "I made this one too, and I think it's even better than the old one!"

"You made this?" Allen was surprised. "I thought you said you weren't good at artsy stuff."

"Well, I can saw and plane and hammer stuff. I am quite manly, after all. Lenalee's the one who painted it, though."

The surface of the table was painted a swirl of blues and greens. It looked like the surface of the ocean just off the coast of a tropical island.

"It's really nice," Allen complimented. "But what is it for?"

"You've never played beer pong? You know what, I shouldn't even be surprised. Don't worry, you'll learn. Hey, you can be on my team! I'm awesome at this game."

"Do I have to drink the beer?" Allen wanted to know.

"Of course," Lavi replied, grinning. "It's called "Beer Pong,' dude."

Allen decided that, when it came time to play this obviously ridiculous game, he'd have to slip away somewhere to hide.

* * *

"No way!"

"Come on, Allen! We picked it out especially for you!" Lenalee pleaded.

"No way in hell!"

"Dude, you need to have a costume! And this one fits the theme and will look awesome on you!" This was Lavi.

"If by awesome you mean absurd and humiliating, then yes, it will look very awesome."

"Stop bitching and wear the damn costume, beansprout," Kanda growled.

"Why should I have to wear a costume if you don't, you insufferable jerk?" Allen complained.

"Just wear it, dude!" Lavi insisted, shoving the aforementioned costume onto his head. "It's just a hat. You don't even have to wear any different clothes!"

"But…" Allen trailed off, tugging at the hat. He turned and looked at himself in the mirror that hung over the sink in Lenalee's bathroom. From atop his head a large pink octopus stared, cross-eyed, back at him.

Lenalee giggled. "You look so cute, Allen!"

Lavi laughed too, though it was a bit more mean-spirited than Lenalee's giggle. "That's a good look for you, beansprout!"

"My name is Allen!" Allen snapped.

"This is stupid," Kanda declared, shoving his way past Lavi and exiting the bathroom. "I think there are people here already," he called from the top of the stairs.

"But the party doesn't even start for—"

Lavi's protestation was cut off by the resounding jangle of the doorbell.

"Huh. Well, Yu, answer the door, willya?"

"Hell no!" Kanda bit back. "I'm going to go somewhere that isn't near the beansprout and his bitching."

The doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it!" Lenalee called, blocking Lavi's attempt to chase after Kanda.

Surreptitiously, Allen attempted to remove the hat from his head and hide it in the shower.

"I saw that," Lavi whispered, right in his ear.

"AH!" Allen squeaked, jumping and tripping over the teal bathmat. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Lavi reached across him, seized the octopus hat, and pushed it firmly back onto Allen's head. "Come on, buddy. Wear the costume."

Allen looked away. "I don't want to. It's embarrassing."

"For me?" Lavi begged.

The shorter boy regarded him silently for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Why can I never win against you?"

"Because I'm awesome," Lavi answered, grinning like a madman. "This is gonna be so great!" He adjusted the blue bed sheet he had wrapped around himself like a toga and picked up his "trident." It was really just a plastic devil's pitchfork from the previous Halloween that the one-eyed boy had spray painted gold. Poorly.

"Lavi!" an unfamiliar female voice simpered. "Where are you?"

"My public awaits!" Lavi said to Allen, smirking. "Have a good time, okay? I'll find you later."

And he left Allen all alone in Lenalee's girly bathroom, wearing an embarrassing octopus hat.

* * *

Oh man octopus hat. That episode of the anime is bizarre and therefore awesome, so I just had to use it. Chapter six will be up in a day or two. Review of you so desire-they certainly make me happy!


	6. Bills, Bills, Bills

Oh, hey chapter 6.

I'm really glad you all liked the inclusion of the octopus hat. It's so random and Allen was so distressed by it being on his head in that episode, I just had to include it!

So I've discovered something pretty interesting: I have a really hard time _not_ writing Lavi. Like, the second half of this chapter? Yeah, he originally wasn't even supposed to be in it. But then he was all "screw that!" and somehow he ended up right in the middle of everything. So. Also, Lenalee is really hard for me to write for some reason. I don't know why. I'm one of the people who love her, so it's not because I can't stand her or anything. So I'm putting her into the story more, just for practice. Also because I like her. Kanda just kind of exists. I adore him as well, but I find I can't write him for very long without things turning too ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculousness, this chapter has plenty of it. We're venturing further and further into crackland, my friends. Isn't it exciting? Chapter 7, which I already have written, is even worse. Or better, depending upon your point of view. I'm really proud of it, however. Borderline obsessed with it, actually. You'll see what I mean in a day or two. I may not be able to wait too long to post it, because I'm just that excited. Chapter 8 is three-fourths of the way done, but I'm currently unhappy with it. Oh well. It's raining, and I have all day to write. Yay!

Enough of my babbling. I'll just give the disclaimer (I do not own D Gray-man) and onto the story!

* * *

So. Much. Noise.

Allen couldn't believe how much noise these people were making. The music was blaring—impossibly loud—yet every five minutes someone would stumble past and turn the volume on the stereo even higher. People needed to shout to be heard over the music, and scream to be heard over the shouting of others. It didn't help that nearly everyone present was drunk out of their minds, as inebriation usually led to raised voices regardless of the situation.

"Allen!" Lenalee called, sliding into the nook Allen had been hiding in for the past hour. Her face was flushed, but the white-haired boy could tell that she wasn't half as intoxicated as the majority of the party guests. "There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Well, here I am," Allen replied, ruefully yanking on the octopus hat he was still wearing.

"Why are you hiding? Aren't you having fun?" Lenalee pouted. She'd created a shell-bra, a la Ariel's in Disney's _Little Mermaid_, out of two paper plates and some yarn. Allen was relieved to see that she was wearing this over a black tank top. She was also wearing green skinny jeans and had taped construction paper fins to the tops of her boots. It was pretty cute, Allen had to admit.

"Of course I'm having fun! I'm just taking a break is all." In truth, after Lavi had left him Allen had immediately sought out the quietest corner of the house he could find in which to mope.

"Come with me! I want to introduce you to some people!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him along in her wake. Partygoers parted like the red sea, sending Lenalee appreciative glances and Allen quizzical ones. He saw more than one girl pointing and giggling at him. He pulled the hat low over his eyes and used his fingers to comb his bangs over the scar on his face. Lenalee didn't seem to notice his discomfort as she dragged him into the kitchen.

"Allen, this is my friend Miranda Lotto," Lenalee introduced, indicating a nervous-looking girl wearing heavy black eyeliner. She was dressed as a pirate, a tri-cornered hat on her head and a polka-dotted scarf around her neck.

_Lavi should have gone as a pirate,_ Allen thought. _He already has the eye-patch for it._

"Nice to meet you, Miss Lotto," he said, holding his hand out to shake.

"Oh!" Miranda squeaked, looking at Allen's hand uncertainly. When it became apparent she wasn't going to shake, he pulled it back and let it hang loosely at his side.

"Miranda's pretty shy," Lenalee stage-whispered into his ear.

"Neighbor!" came Lavi's energetic voice. "Where are you?"

Allen turned to look for the redhead. He was standing on the dining room table, leaning so heavily on his trident it was starting to bend in half. As he surveyed the area his toga began to slip off of his left shoulder. He was surrounded by a group of excited girls, all talking over each other in an attempt to catch his attention.

"Lavi wants you to play with him," Lenalee said, handing Miranda a red Solo cup. The anxious girl took it cautiously and held it like she thought it was going to jump up and attack her at any moment.

"I don't want to play," Allen said petulantly.

"It'll be fun," Lenalee chided. "He's been talking about it all night. You'll hurt his feelings if you don't."

"Fine," Allen said, sighing. He walked over to Lavi, who still hadn't seen him from his spot on the table, and tugged on the hem of his toga.

"There you are!" Lavi said jubilantly. Allen thought the taller boy would jump down to the floor to talk to him, but instead he grabbed Allen's right bicep and hauled him bodily onto the table.

"What are you doing?" Allen whispered fiercely, face heating up.

"Everybody!" Lavi called, ignoring Allen's question. "Hey, shut up for a second!"

Someone cut the power to the stereo as a hush fell over the room. It was dead silent, everyone looking up at them expectantly (albeit drunkenly).

"That's better." Lavi grinned, throwing an arm around Allen's shoulders and pulling him close. "This is my new neighbor, Allen Walker. He lives over there." Lavi used his trident to point in the general direction of Allen's house. "He's just a freshman, but he's cool. Say hey to everyone, Allen."

"Um, hello," Allen greeted self-consciously.

"He's so cute!" someone squealed.

"Isn't he?" Lavi agreed fondly.

"Lavi!" Allen protested, blushing harder.

"Aww, you embarrassed him," Lavi teased. "Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know who he is so you can all stop asking me about it."

People had been asking Lavi about him? That made Allen feel even more uncomfortable, if that was even possible.

With that, Lavi hopped off of the table, lugging Allen along with him. The stereo blasted back to life and bellowed conversation resumed.

"Come on little buddy," Lavi said as he ducked down to Allen's level, the better to be heard. "You promised me beer pong!"

* * *

Two hours and an uncountable number of beer pong games later, Allen realized three things.

One—beer was disgusting.

Two—he was terrible at beer pong.

Three—he had an incredibly low tolerance for alcohol.

"It's probably because you're so little," Lavi explained to the white-haired boy, who was slumped in a corner of the basement, holding his stomach.

"Shut up," Allen moaned.

"It could also have to do with the fact that I switched the beer out for vodka a while back," Lavi continued.

"I hate you," Allen asserted.

"Nah, you don't either," Lavi disagreed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm your best friend in the whole world!"

The thing that annoyed Allen the most about that statement was that it was true.

As Lavi moved off to go flirt with a scantily clad girl dressed as a crab (_or was it a lobster? Some sort of crustacean_) Allen pondered how he'd become so close to the redhead in such a short amount of time. It was quite alarming, he decided. They had only known each other a week. And yet it felt as though they'd known each other forever, to be perfectly sappy and cliché about it.

"Allen?"

The sick, considerably intoxicated boy looked up. Lenalee was leaning over him, a concerned frown on her pretty face. "Are you okay?"

"Lavi poisoned me," Allen said, slurring a little.

"Oh dear," Lenalee sighed. "I told him not to do this."

"Lavi doesn't listen," Allen said, nodding sagely.

"I suppose he doesn't," Lenalee agreed. "Hold on, I'll go get you some water."

"Thank you, Lenalee. You're a good friend. I think… I think I love you."

Lenalee threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, Allen. You're funny. Remind me to yell at Lavi for this later."

Allen's increasingly fuzzy mind couldn't comprehend why Lenalee found that so hilarious, but he just nodded at her retreating back. After a while, Allen realized that he was pretty much alone in the basement except for Lavi and a tall, blonde girl in a black suit. He wondered vaguely where crab-girl went, then wondered why the tall girl wasn't wearing a costume. He pulled at the octopus hat again, jealous.

"But you sent your little maid person to come stalk me," Lavi was saying. "That's…that's a little weird, right?"

"I needed to know if you were suitable," a low, female voice answered.

"Yeah…" Lavi said, clearly unsure.

"There are still more things I need to know about you," the girl Allen suspected was this Lulubell person answered dully. "I have not yet made my decision."

"Okay," Lavi said with forced cheerfulness.

Allen lolled his head to the side, looking at the two of them from the corner of his eye. Lavi was smiling pleasantly at the blonde girl, who gazed stonily back. She moved forward and grasped his chin with her right hand. Lavi gave a surprised yelp as she turned his face to the side and licked his cheek. She considered him a moment longer, then turned and walked up the stairs.

"That was weird," Allen commented from his spot on the floor.

"Gah!" Lavi jumped about three feet in the air. He spun around and spotted Allen, who gave a half-hearted wave before letting his hand slap back down onto the cement floor. "What are you still doing here?"

"Lenalee went to get me water," Allen said, not really answering Lavi's question. "My stomach hurts and my head feels funny."

The taller boy chuckled quietly, walking over and sliding down next to him. "I'm thinking maybe I made a mistake with Lulubell. She might be scarier than Chomesuke."

"Hey," Allen drawled. "'membered her name. Good for you."

"Well, I did spend Thursday night with her," Lavi reminded him.

"Like, _all_ night?" Allen said, attempting to raise an eyebrow and failing.

"Allen!" Lavi said. "That comment was surprisingly sexual. Coming from you, at least."

"Used to it," Allen said, leaning his head against the cool stone wall. "Grew up with Master. Ugh, I am going to kill you for poisoning me with vodka."

"I didn't poison you," Lavi said. "And who is this 'Master'? That's the second time you've mentioned him now. I'm assuming it's a him, at least."

"Godfather," Allen mumbled. "Raised me after my foster father died. Not a nice man. Womanizer."

"Your dad died?" Lavi asked softly. "I'm sorry, dude."

"Thanks. 'Swhere I got my scar, y'know. When Mana died, I mean." Allen frowned and shifted his head toward Lavi, looking up at him through his eyelashes. "Surprised you haven't asked about that yet."

Lavi shrugged. "Seemed like a sensitive subject. I don't like talking about my eye"—he indicated his patch—"so I figured you wouldn't want to talk about yours."

"Thoughtful," Allen replied, shifting his head to look at the staircase. "Where'd Lenalee go? Wanted that water."

"So you're not gonna tell me about it?" Lavi asked carefully.

"Later," Allen assured him. "When 'm not dying."

"You're not dying," Lavi promised, chuckling.

"How're you still sober?" Allen groused. "Drank way more than me."

"I have a higher tolerance than you do," Lavi said, patting Allen on the shoulder. "Plus, when you were drinking vodka, I was drinking water. Thought I might have to take care of you later. Guess I was right."

"Mmm."

"I'm so sorry it took so long, Allen!" Lenalee cried, descending the stairs. "Someone threw up in the kitchen sink so I had to go upstairs but someone, maybe the same someone, locked themselves in the bathroom and they're crying about something and I had to argue with them through the door and—"

"'S fine, Lenalee," Allen said, waving his hand weakly.

"You really messed him up, Lavi," Lenalee scolded.

"I thought he needed to lighten up a little. Kid was kinda stiff, you know?" He was quiet for a moment, then added, "someone threw up in the sink? That's gross, Lena. I am not cleaning that up."

"Hey, your party," Allen said softly, sipping the water.

"I don't think I like you when you're drunk," Lavi said, but he was smiling.

"I don't either," Allen agreed. "Wanna go home."

"Here, I'll help you." Lavi stood, took the cup of water from Allen's hand, and placed it on the ground. "Is anyone else still here, Lenalee?"

"About half the party. Want me to get Kanda to tell them to get out?"

"Yeah, I think we should call it a night."

"Okay. Feel better, Allen," Lenalee said quietly, kneeling down and giving him a hug.

"'Kay," Allen murmured, eyes sliding shut. Lenalee giggled, turned, and bounded up the stairs.

"Hey now, none of that," Lavi chided, stooping down. "You need to be awake for me, okay? I really don't want to have to carry you back to your house."

"Don't wanna," Allen whined.

Lavi wrapped an arm around his waist and hauled him to his feet. Above their heads, they heard much shuffling and slamming of doors.

"Whass that?" Allen wondered.

"Everyone's leaving. Kanda must have given them the Death Glare."

"Brutal." Allen's eyes slid shut again and he rested his head against Lavi's shoulder.

"No no no," Lavi said. "Open your eyes, buddy."

"Did I mention I'm gonna kill you?"

"A couple of times," Lavi said lightly. "Come on. Right foot, left foot."

Allen groaned, but did as he was told. It was painfully slow going, but they made it up the stairs, out of the house, across the yard, and to Allen's front door.

"Need your keys, neighbor," Lavi said.

"Back pocket," Allen hummed.

"Dude. No. I am not sticking my hand in your back pocket."

"Lavi, I'm dizzy," Allen whimpered.

The taller boy heaved a sigh, then fished in Allen's pocket for his keys. He drew them out, fumbled to fit the right one in the lock, and pushed the door open.

"Okay, we're in," Lavi said, voice sounding a bit strangled. "Need me to help you up the stairs?"

"Sleep on the couch," Allen said, moving toward it and stumbling.

"Whoa, watch it!" Lavi warned, grabbing him around the waist again. "Don't want you to hurt yourself." He led the disoriented boy to the couch and lowered him down slowly. "Need a blanket?"

"'m fine," Allen said. "Thanks Lavi. You're a good friend."

Lavi scratched the back of his head. "No prob, buddy. This is kind of my fault, after all."

"Yeah. Still. Only real friend I ever had. Only one who'd ever help me. So. Thanks." He rolled over and curled up into a ball. "Hope I don't throw up on the couch."

Lavi laughed, reached down, removed the dreaded octopus hat, and placed his hand on top of Allen's head. "I hope you remember this tomorrow. Because I won't forget it," he whispered.

"Mmhmm."

* * *

The morning light streamed in through the window, hitting Allen full in the face. He groaned, cracked open an eye, and sat up slowly.

"What the hell…" he muttered to himself. His head was pounding, his stomach was killing him, and his tongue felt furry. "Lavi…" Allen growled. "You will pay for this."

Allen's dark thoughts were interrupted by someone kicking in the front door.

"Ahhhhh!" Allen screamed, toppling off of the couch.

In the doorway stood none other than Allen's sadistic godfather, Cross Marian. His wild red hair fell to his shoulders and his glasses glinted in the strong morning light.

"Brat!" he yelled, noticing Allen on the living room floor. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question," Allen croaked. His throat felt scratchy and raw. He would definitely have to yell at Lavi later, if his voice could even handle it. Right now he had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Don't take that tone with me," the man said, striding into the room and dropping onto the couch. He propped his dirty feet up on Allen's beloved coffee table and made to light the cigarette he'd pulled from his pocket.

"There's no smoking in here, Master," Allen said tiredly.

"The hell is wrong with you? You sick or something? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were hung-over." Cross eyed him dubiously.

"What makes you think you know any better?" At this point, Allen could care less if his Master whacked him with his ever-present mallet. His head couldn't possibly hurt any worse than it already did.

Cross stared at him for a moment before stuffing the cigarette and lighter back into his pocket. "I'm sort of proud, in a strange way. I thought you'd be one of those losers who waits until they're twenty-one before they take their first drink."

"Well, I was actually planning on doing just that. But it would seem my new friends had different ideas."

"You have friends?" Cross marveled.

"How did you find me?" Allen demanded. "I purposely refrained from telling you my new address in order to prevent visits such as these."

"Still talk like a fruitcake I see," Cross observed.

"Just answer the question, Master," Allen said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Mother told me you were here. I have to say I was surprised you'd moved onto her street. It's a weird coincidence."

"Uh huh," Allen said. He silently cursed the old woman. She'd seemed like such a nice person, too…

"You're not dead, I see," Cross said.

"You thought I couldn't take care of myself for a week?" Allen asked, incredulous. "You must think even less of me than I'd assumed."

"Much less," Cross amended.

"Could you please leave me alone, Master? I am certainly in no condition to entertain. I think I need to vomit."

"I drove all this way to check on my beloved godson. You could at least take me to lunch or something," Cross raged.

"Stop yelling," Allen moaned, holding a hand to his head. "Please."

Running steps could be heard out on the sidewalk and a split second later Lavi burst in through the still-open front door. "Allen! Are you okay? I heard shouting!"

"Lavi," Allen groaned. "Get over here so I can kick your ass."

"Whoa, what did you do?" Cross asked the one-eyed boy. "The brat never curses."

"He poisoned me with vodka," Allen muttered darkly.

"Are you being attacked or not?" Lavi demanded.

"No, I'm not being attacked, for crying out loud. Lavi, this is my godfather, Cross Marian. Master, this is my friend, Lavi Bookman. He lives next door."

Lavi regarded the man for a moment before bounding forward and sticking out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, sir."

"This one's got some manners on him," Cross remarked, shaking Lavi's hand. "I hate manners."

"Um," Lavi said.

"I'm also suspicious of anyone who would willingly befriend this idiot," Cross continued, jerking a thumb in Allen's direction.

"Gee, thanks Master," Allen deadpanned.

"Well, this is a dysfunctional relationship," Lavi commented, crossing the room and kneeling in front of Allen. "How ya feeling today, pal?"

"Terrible," Allen retorted. "I'm never coming to one of your parties again."

"You went to a party?" Cross yelled. "Who the hell would want to invite you to a party?"

"I would," Lavi replied brightly. "Sorry dude. I don't know what to tell you. I don't get hangovers, so I don't know what to do. Some people say drink raw eggs, but that is a really bad idea. Don't do that."

"I wasn't really planning on it," Allen replied, smirking.

"Good," Lavi said, patting his shoulder.

"Uh, how did I get home last night?" Allen wondered.

Lavi's face fell. "You don't remember?"

"Um, let's see here. I was in the basement, Lulubell licked your face—we're going to have to talk about that later, by the way—then Lenalee was there I think. Someone threw up in the kitchen? Then we were walking and then the couch…"

"I helped you walk home," Lavi said, posing heroically. "Aren't I a good friend?"

"You're the one who tricked me into drinking in the first place," Allen snapped.

"But! You told me I was a good friend! "

"When?" Allen said.

"Last night! When I helped you onto the couch, you told me thanks and that I was a good friend!"

"I do not recall this," Allen said. "Therefore, it never happened."

"Dammit!" Lavi stomped his foot, like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. "We had a nice moment and everything!"

Cross leaned forward, scrutinizing the one-eyed boy carefully. "You have gay crush on my godson or something?"

Lavi looked horrified. "No! I like the ladies, okay? La-dies," he stressed each syllable of the word.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Allen said slyly. Lavi threw him a murderous glare, but the shorter boy only chuckled. "Seriously though, Master. Lavi is rather proficient when it comes to his skill with women. He sort of reminds me of you in that respect, actually."

"Does he now?" Cross murmured, looking at Lavi with new appreciation. "Maybe you're a good influence on the stupid brat after all."

Lavi beamed. "Thanks sir! I tried to get Allen a girl last night, but he ended up having a lower tolerance for alcohol than I'd anticipated…"

"You're still on about that?" Allen said, surprised. "I told you I don't want to you _give_ me a girl. That's depraved."

"Prude," Cross growled.

"Get out of here," Allen hissed. "What are you even doing here? I refuse to believe that you care about my well-being. So what is it that you need?"

"Give me some money," Cross commanded.

"Absolutely not," Allen replied, crossing his arms. "I should have known this would come down to money. Have you really increased your debt that much since I've been gone?"

"I just need a place to lay low for a while," Cross said cagily.

"Hell no," Allen said, eyes flashing. "Go stay with Mother."

"She'd just lecture me about being 'fiscally responsible' and blah blah blah."

"Maybe that's a lecture you need to hear," Allen retorted.

"Hey, you," Cross said, ignoring his godson and turning toward Lavi. "You seem like you know how to have a good time. Reminds me of me when I was younger. Maybe you could—"

"No way," Allen interrupted, holding a protective arm in front of a confused Lavi. "Leave him alone, Master."

"Fine," the redheaded man huffed. "I'm not your legal guardian anymore, so I can't force you to do anything. Such bullshit. Anyway, you could at least take me out to lunch. I went through all this trouble to drive out here."

Allen just glared at him.

"We'll take you out, sir!" Lavi assured him.

"What? 'We'?" Allen spluttered.

"Sure! Let's go! I'll drive." Lavi held Allen back as Cross made his way to the door. "I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone with this guy. He's obviously planning something," Lavi said lowly.

"Oh, undoubtedly," Allen agreed, causing Lavi to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "I lived with this man for six years—I know all the signs for when he's thinking something nefarious. Still, I can handle him. You don't need to come."

"Well, too bad. I'm coming anyway," Lavi insisted.

"Get your slow asses out here," Cross roared from the front yard.

Lavi led them next door to his own garage. Inside they found a dark blue Honda Civic and a sleek black Ford Mustang.

"That's Lenalee's," Lavi explained, indicating the Civic. "And this here is my baby." He patted the hood of the Mustang.

"Nice car," Allen commented. "Sporty."

"Thanks, I like it."

"This car sucks," Cross said bluntly. "I'm not riding in this girly thing. We'll take my car." He spun on his heel and swept out of the garage.

"My car isn't girly!" Lavi cried indignantly.

"He's just being a jerk," Allen comforted, patting the taller boy's arm.

They exited the garage and found Cross' gray 2008 Chevy Avalanche parked in front of a fire hydrant, the right front tire up on the curb.

"Now this is a man's car," Cross explained to Lavi, who was still looking rather put-out. "Her name's Maria."

"If it's a manly car, why does it have a girl's name?" the one-eyed boy wanted to know.

"Cars, like boats, are always female. You don't know anything, do you?"

Lavi, who was obviously not used to having his intelligence insulted, sulked and looked away.

Allen tried to climb into the front seat, but was rebuffed by Cross's boot in his face.

"Wha—Master! What was that for?"

"Hell if I'm letting either of you ride up here with me. Get in the back."

"I'm beginning to regret this idea," Lavi murmured to Allen as he buckled his seatbelt.

The white-haired boy whole-heartedly agreed.

* * *

"I still can't get over how much food you can freaking eat," Lavi said, shocked.

"Yeah, well," Allen said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin.

"You sure do talk a lot," Cross groused at Lavi. "You didn't shut up throughout this whole meal."

"I'm just a very social person!" Lavi said happily.

"More like an obnoxious asshole," Cross replied, smirking.

"Don't like this guy, Allen," Lavi said quietly.

"Don't worry, I don't either," Allen assured him. "Ugh, my head."

"It still hurts?" Lavi asked. "Man, you really are hung over."

"Yeah, thanks to you," Allen grumbled.

"Hey, I said I was sorry! Next time I won't give you vodka, how about that?" He threw an arm around Allen's shoulders—a common habit of his, the younger boy had discovered—and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. "Come on, you can't stay mad at me, can you? Just look at this face!" He leaned back a bit and gave Allen a cheerful smile.

Allen sighed. "I guess not," he muttered.

"If you two are done making out," Cross cut in. "I'm going to go find the waitress and tell her to bring our check." He slid out of the booth and wandered off.

"We were not making out!" Lavi called after him, flustered.

"Ignore him," Allen advised.

"How can you be so calm about all of this?"

"I'm used to it," Allen said, shrugging.

After waiting an inordinate amount of time, however, Allen was beginning to get impatient. "Where is that man?" he wondered.

"Where's the waitress?" Lavi wanted to know. "I thought she was bringing the check."

Just then the waitress in question staggered to their table. Her blouse was buttoned in all the wrong holes and her skirt was hiked up and twisted to the left. Her hair was mussed and wild, and Allen noticed she was only wearing one shoe.

"Here's your check," she said breathlessly, throwing the receipt onto the table. "And this is from the red-haired gentleman." She blushed and tossed a stack of papers and envelopes down as well before hurrying away.

"What was that about?" Lavi wondered.

Allen slammed his head down on the table as violently as he could muster. "He stuck us with the check. And all of his bills."

"What?" Lavi reached across the table and picked up the top-most paper on the substantial pile. "You're right, this is a bill!"

"He's stuck me with all of his debts. Again," Allen moaned.

"He's done this before?" Lavi wondered as he flipped through the remaining papers in the stack.

"Yep."

"You can't just let him do this to you!" Lavi said. "Let's just go throw these back in his truck or something."

"Too late," Allen replied, voice slightly muffled since he still hadn't lifted his head from the table.

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself," he said, gesturing out the window. "It was probably his plan all along. I really should have known."

The window to their left looked out over the parking lot. It took Lavi a moment before he realized that the place Cross had parked "Maria" was now empty.

"He left us?" Lavi said faintly.

"He left us," Allen said with finality.

The waitress bustled over again, clothes more or less back in place. "So, will you be paying with cash or credit?"

* * *

Bwa ha ha ha! I just _had_ to write Cross, though I'm not sure I did him justice. Ah well. He may show up again later, as well. Haven't really decided yet. I think I'll have chapter 7 up tomorrow, if I can work all of the kinks out of chapter 8. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	7. Covert Ops

Okay, I'm back again. And before I say anything else I must confess that I am apparently the worst Lavi fan ever, because I completely forgot that yesterday was his special day. So, Happy Belated Birthday, Lavi!

Anyway, onto rambling about this chapter. I cackled madly to myself pretty much the whole time I was writing it. I figured that this story needed a bit of conflict, so this chapter will introduce the main antagonist. You'll figure out who it is rather quickly. I hope I do him justice as well. He doesn't start being too nefoarious for a while longer, however.

Chapter 8 is finished, which is why I'm posting chapter 7 today, but it is still rather meh. I feel like nothing really happens in it. I have a fun idea for chapter 9, but chapter 8 is just being a jerk. Also, I'm expected to accomplish some things and be a legitimate member of society today, so I may not have time to write :(

Anyway, I'd like to give yet another heartfelt "Thank You!" to everyone who has favorited and reviewed. It makes me feel like I'm doing something really good with this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

A week and a half after Cross' eventful visit, Allen once again found himself in The Refectory. He was meeting Lavi for lunch; the excitable redhead had been babbling something about this "really awesome idea" he had (that was bound to be horrible and/or dangerous) during History class while Allen was trying to learn about early forms of pictographic writing, and Allen had finally proposed lunch in order to shut him up and talk about it later.

And now it was later, and Lavi wasn't there. Allen shrugged to himself, collected his food, and made his way toward Lavi's usual booth to wait. It was better than waiting up in the main area of the Student Union, where he'd probably be subjected to more irritating old man stories.

However, when Allen reached Lavi's designated table, he found that it was already occupied. And not by his red-headed friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Allen said, taking a step back. "I thought that this booth was empty."

"Not a problem," the boy who was sitting there said smoothly. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"That someone wouldn't be Lavi Bookman, would it?"

The boy nodded, smirking. "I take it you're after him as well?"

"I guess you could say that," Allen replied, frowning at the boy's choice of words.

"I see." The boy ran a hand through his wavy, shoulder-length hair and introduced himself. "My name is Tyki Mikk. How about you?"

"Allen Walker," Allen replied. "I'd shake hands, but mine are full at the moment."

"Not to worry," Tyki replied, his smirk transforming into an unnaturally wide grin. "Why don't we wait together? I'm sure Lavi won't mind. I certainly don't."

"Okay," Allen said, a little unnerved. Nevertheless, he placed his food on the table and slid into the seat across from Tyki. "So, are you a friend of Lavi's?"

"Oh yes," Tyki replied. "We go way back."

"I see," Allen replied, fidgeting. "That's nice."

"There's no need to be nervous," Tyki chuckled. "I won't bite."

_I'm not so sure of that,_ Allen thought uncertainly.

"How about a friendly game while we wait, hmm?" Tyki asked, producing a deck of cards out of nowhere.

"What kind of game?" Allen wondered.

"Poker. You do know how to play poker, don't you?"

"I know how to play," Allen said. In truth, the white-haired boy was something of a card shark, and poker was his game of choice. In order to pay back all of his Master's debts when he was growing up, he'd taught himself how to win (AKA cheat) at cards in order to gain large sums of money quickly. He could be quite ruthless, in all honesty, but this Tyki person had done nothing to deserve meeting "black Allen" as Cross called him when he got deep into a game. Allen, with Lavi in tow, had taken all of the bills his Master had left for him that day in the restaurant and given them to Mother. She would get them back to their rightful owner, so Allen had no need to hustle money, either. This would be the first time in a long time that Allen would play cards for the pure enjoyment of it and though the boy sitting across from him was a little unnerving, he couldn't help but begin to feel excited at the prospect.

"Are you going to fricking listen to my awesome idea now, beansprout?" Lavi's voice interrupted.

"My name is Allen," Allen replied automatically.

"You are beansprout right now because you were a jerk earlier." Lavi stopped in front of the booth, glaring at his younger friend. "I don't like being blown off, you know?"

"I was learning!" Allen protested. "You need to stop excessively talking to me in the middle of class!"

Tyki cleared his throat, reminding Allen of his presence. Lavi turned toward him, baffled for a moment, but when he locked eyes with Tyki he froze.

"Hello Lavi," the wavy-haired boy crooned. "Miss me?"

"Mikk," Lavi replied stiffly. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to see you," he replied, resting his chin on his hand.

It was then that Allen realized what Tyki had meant when he asked if Allen was "after" Lavi as well, and he blushed to the tips of his ears.

"Well, you've seen me. Now it's time for you to go." Lavi glared at him and pointed toward the door.

"Tsk tsk, you're not being very nice. I haven't seen you since last spring and this is how you greet me?" But Tyki didn't look upset. In fact, it looked to Allen like he was having a grand time.

"What do you want?" Lavi asked through gritted teeth.

"You," Tyki said simply. Lavi paled, and the wavy-haired boy grinned triumphantly. "Come now, don't tell me you're changing your mind."

"I don't remember any of what you claim happened between us," Lavi said quickly, glancing furtively at Allen. The white-haired boy raised his eyebrows.

"Pity," Tyki sighed. "But I won't give up on you so easily, you know." He slid out of the booth and stood up, looking down on Lavi with a leer. "Your friend is interesting." His strange golden eyes flicked toward Allen for a moment before coming back to rest on Lavi's face.

"Leave him alone," Lavi said dangerously.

"Ah, I see how it is. No matter. I'll see you later, Lavi. Boy." He grinned that creepy grin at Allen and left.

Lavi slammed his fist onto the table, shocking Allen out of his confusion.

"What the heck, Lavi?" Allen cried, holding a hand over his heart. "You scared me!"

"He graduated," Lavi was muttering—mostly to himself, Allen assumed. "He graduated in May. I thought I'd gotten rid of him. Why is he still here?"

"Um, Lavi? Is it okay if I ask what that was all about?" Allen questioned.

His friend slid into the seat Tyki had previously occupied and folded his hands on top of the table. "Remember what I said about gin the first time we were here?"

"About how you and it were not friends and I should prevent you from drinking it in the future?"

"Yeah," Lavi said. "Apparently, I get really flirty when I drink gin."

"Because that's so different from you on any other day," Allen said sarcastically.

Lavi scowled at him. "What I mean is, apparently I flirt with _everybody_." He stopped for a minute, and Allen could see that he was blushing. "Boys included."

"So you got drunk on gin, flirted with Tyki, now he's interested, and you don't remember any of it?"

"That's exactly what happened."

"Well," Allen said, placing a finger on his chin. "I suppose that's what you get for being an incorrigible player."

"That's cold," Lavi whined. "Have some sympathy for me, Allen! Tyki is _stalking_ me."

"Who isn't?"

"He has no reason to be on campus," Lavi continued, ignoring Allen's smart-alecky comment. "He isn't even a student here anymore. So what the hell?"

"He's obviously enamored of you," Allen said, sipping his Pepsi. "And I must say, I got a creepy vibe from him before I even knew he was one of your many stalkers. Hmm, they should start a club. It could be a student organization. I'm sure they could get a lot of people to join."

"Thank you for making light of my predicament, buddy. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Allen said, giving Lavi a bright smile. "But I'm afraid there's nothing you can really do about it at present."

"He's just so scary!" Lavi shuddered.

"Want me to beat him up for you?" Allen asked.

Lavi stared at him.

"Kidding," Allen said, smiling even wider.

The one-eyed boy shook his head and chuckled. "You're hilarious."

"I do what I can. But seriously, why don't you just sic Kanda on him? Give him the Death Glare."

"I tried that already! He just laughed and patted Kanda's shoulder, which is so not allowed because _no one_ touches Kanda. He made me wash all of the dishes for two weeks for that."

"Wow, it's like this guy isn't human," Allen mused.

"He's ruining my life."

"We'll get rid of him," Allen said, reaching across the table and patting Lavi's hand reassuringly.

The redhead surprised him by moving his left hand on top of Allen's and squeezing it. "You'll help me?"

"Of course," Allen said, feeling a little awkward now that he was essentially holding Lavi's hand. "What are friends for?"

Lavi sighed, smiling gently. "That's why I like you, Allen. You always come through for me."

"Yeah," Allen said, even more uncomfortable than before. "You can let go of my hand now."

Lavi's placid grin turned devilish. "Nope."

"What?" Allen attempted to tug his hand from Lavi's grip, but the taller boy held fast. "What are you doing?" He glanced around and noticed that everyone around them was watching. One girl was even taking a picture of the two of them with her cell phone. "Lavi, everyone is staring!"

"Exactly. This is punishment for ignoring me and my awesome idea earlier."

"You're still on about that?" Allen exclaimed, pulling harder. Still Lavi wouldn't let go.

"Are you going to listen to it now?" Lavi asked, leaning closer to him. To an outside observer it would look like he was about to…

"Yes, yes, I'll listen! Just get away from me!" Allen yanked his hand with as much force as he could just as Lavi released it. This sent Allen slamming into the back of the booth with a resounding crash.

Lavi cackled like a madman. "Sorry, pal. You're just so fun to tease!"

Allen glowered at him. "See if I help you with your Mikk problem now."

"Oh, but you just did," Lavi said cryptically, glancing at the girls who'd taken photo after photo of the two of them on their cell phones and were excitedly texting them to all of their friends.

"Huh?"

"Anyway," Lavi said, shrugging the whole incident off. "Listen to my idea. It is super great." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of white paper. He smoothed it on the table and Allen tilted his head to read the writing on it.

"Neighborhood meeting to discuss the student threat," Allen read aloud. He looked up at Lavi's expectant face. "That one Mr. George was talking about?"

"Yep! Mother showed me this flyer. There's one stuck inside the front door of every house on the street. Except for mine and yours, of course."

"So?" Allen wanted to know.

"So! I say we crash it."

"No way," Allen said, holding up a hand to silence Lavi's protestations. "Last time I talked to George he said he'd call the police on us if we showed up."

"I'm not afraid of the cops," Lavi said, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back. "I know how to deal with them."

"Even so, I don't think the neighbors would be too thrilled if we just showed up unannounced."

"That's why we listen in from the window," Lavi said conspiratorially. "Then we can see what they're planning and start preparing our counterattack."

"This isn't a war, Lavi," Allen snorted. "Besides, they have every right to be annoyed with you. You do throw obnoxiously loud parties nearly every weekend. I'd be annoyed as well, were I them."

"Yeah, but they're annoyed with you too. Doesn't that make you mad?"

"A little," the white-haired boy admitted. "I mean, I didn't do anything to them. They assumed I was bad news the minute I showed up."

"Which makes no sense, because you're, well, _you_." Lavi shook his head. "I still don't get how anyone can look at that innocent face of yours and think 'hooligan'."

"Um," Allen said, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously.

"So, you wanna help me? We can prank them or something. It'll be great!"

Allen looked up into Lavi's excited face and silently cursed his inability to say no to him. He must have been taking pointers from Lenalee.

_Speaking of…_

"Why don't you ask Lenalee?" Allen said, dodging the question. "She lives at your house, after all. The meeting is about her as well."

"Oh, she's already coming," Lavi said, waving a hand. "She's trying to get Yu to come too, but it's pretty slow going. He thinks my idea is stupid." The taller boy pouted.

"Kanda thinks everything is stupid," Allen said. Then he sighed. "All right, I'll come too."

"Kickass!" Lavi crowed. "It'll be a party! I gotta tell Lena it's on." He pulled out a sleek black phone Allen recognized as a Blackberry and started frantically texting.

As Lavi began muttering about camouflage and covert ops, Allen sighed again—he was already beginning to regret this decision.

* * *

"I'm starting to think he's a bit of a lunatic," Allen confided to Lenalee as he turned a page in his Freshman Composition textbook. "And that I'm an even bigger lunatic for agreeing to his plans."

"Oh, Allen," Lenalee giggled. "It may not seem like it, but Lavi actually does know what he's doing. Most of the time."

"Not very confidence-inspiring, Lenalee," Allen deadpanned.

"The meeting isn't until eight-thirty, so I wonder why Lavi wanted us to meet this early?" she wondered. She checked her watch before adding, "and to top it all off, he's late!"

"Have you ever known Lavi to be on time for anything?" Allen seriously wanted to know. "In my limited experience, I have discovered that punctuality is not his forte."

"I heard that!" Lavi said, pressing his face against the screen of Allen's porch.

"You've offended him," Lenalee said, smiling.

"He has no right to be offended, because it is the truth," Allen declared.

"Anyway," Lavi said, disgruntled. "Get your asses out here. We're going shopping!"

"Why?" Allen asked warily. Even Lenalee narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Because! We can't be sneaky without all of the proper gear. I say we dress up like ninjas. Won't that be great?"

"That is the worst idea ever," Allen grunted.

"Hey! I am the squad leader of this mission, and we will do as I say. Now, to Walmart!" He said valiantly, holding up a fist.

"I hate Walmart," Allen grumbled, but he stood up nonetheless.

"Are you auditioning for the part of Kanda because he's not here?" Lenalee wondered. "You're doing a pretty good impression of him."

"Gross, no!" Allen squawked, waving his arms. "Who would want to be that jerk?"

"You sure are whiny today," Lavi said, as Lenalee and Allen exited the porch and joined him in the yard. "Anyway, I'm driving, so let's go!"

"No way," Lenalee said, yanking on the back of Lavi's shirt. He stopped and stared at her in surprise. "I refuse to ride with you. You drive like a maniac. We'll take my car."

"Aww, Lena, you're no fun!" the redhead huffed.

"Now who's being whiny?" Allen asked.

Lavi stuck out his tongue as they trailed Lenalee into the garage. She slid behind the wheel of her Civic as Allen shouldered Lavi out of the way and hopped into the passenger seat.

"What's this?" Lavi cried. "How come I have to be in the back?"

"Because," Lenalee said, adjusting the rearview mirror. "Just get in, okay?"

He clambered into the backseat, muttering something about "insubordination." Allen and Lenalee shared an amused look.

The ride to Walmart was short and uneventful, but the minute Lenalee pulled into a space in the parking lot, Lavi sprang out of the car looking like he was ready for action.

"Let's go, team!" he shouted, marching toward the doors.

"Lavi sure is being silly today," Lenalee said to Allen as they followed their "squad leader" inside. "Did something happen earlier?"

"We had an interesting encounter with some guy named Tyki Mikk who is apparently hot for him," Allen supplied. "I don't see how that would cause him to act like this, though."

"Ah," Lenalee said wisely. "He always acts strangely after he talks to Tyki. Trying to take his mid off of it, I think." Her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I didn't think he'd have to deal with Tyki anymore, since he graduated in May. This isn't good."

"What's so wrong with it?" Allen wanted to know. "He doesn't seem to be too concerned about any of his other stalkers."

"He isn't," Lenalee assured him. "I mean, most of his admirers, both male and female, are like Chomesuke—kind of crazy, but relatively harmless. The thing is, I've heard a lot of pretty disturbing stories about Tyki."

"What kinds of stories?" Allen wondered. They followed at least ten steps behind Lavi as he wandered down a random aisle.

"Weird ones," Lenalee said, not meeting his eyes. "Apparently Tyki is really possessive, and he's been known to get…violent."

Allen stopped in his tracks and gaped at her. "You think he might hurt Lavi?"

Lenalee shrugged helplessly. "Who knows? Lavi sure is worried about it, though."

Allen bit his lip, concerned for his friend. "Well, if I see him hiding in my bushes at all, I'm calling the police."

Lenalee smiled and opened her mouth to say something when Lavi—who'd disappeared down another aisle, oblivious to their serious discussion—appeared out of nowhere, wearing a dark blue ski mask and brandishing a foam Nerf sword.

"How absolutely ninja-esque do I look right now?" he asked, voice a bit muffled.

"What's with the sword?" Allen wondered. "You're not going to whack George over the head with that, are you?" Now that Allen thought about it, he might like to witness that.

"Nah," Lavi said, swinging it around a bit. "It's just that the tag says it's called the 'Blue Thunder Ninja Sword,' so I had to grab it. You know, to go with our theme. Ooh!" He said, his only visible eye lighting up. "We should do a ninja party. What do you think?" He looked between Allen and Lenalee expectantly. "We could decorate the house to look like a dojo or something. Yu would know what to do. I'm gonna go call him right now!" He pulled his Blackberry out of his pocket and rushed off, pushing buttons excitedly.

Allen was surprised when he heard Lenalee give a small sniff. He turned and placed a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry," the Chinese girl said quietly, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. "It's just… thinking that someone might try to do something to him…" she trailed off and sniffed again.

"Don't worry," Allen said bravely. "We'll protect him. That Tyki guy didn't look so tough."

Lenalee nodded, smiling through her tears. "I'm sure we have nothing to worry about."

* * *

They emerged from the superstore forty-five minutes later with a bag-full of gear each. Lavi was scampering about in exhilaration, babbling about stealth and retribution.

"What I don't understand," Allen began, pulling a long-sleeved, cotton shirt partially out of his bag, "is why all of these clothes are blue. Don't ninjas wear black?"

"Ah, but they didn't," Lavi said, swinging his plastic bag over his shoulder. "In order to blend in with the rest of society, ninjas simply dressed the same as those around them. The outfits we think of as being typical of the ninja were actually worn by the stage hands of Japanese kabuki theatre. But, the outfits are cool, so we're going to wear them."

"That does not answer my question," Allen pointed out.

"Black stands out like a dark outline against the night sky. Navy blue blends in much better."

"Oh," Allen said, impressed with Lavi's profusion of knowledge on the subject.

"Yeah," he said, smiling at the shorter boy over his shoulder. The second Lenalee's car came into view, he broke into a run, calling "shotty!"

Allen just let him go, shaking his head fondly.

When they arrived back at Lavi and Lenalee's, the redhead dragged Allen into his bedroom in order to change into their ninja attire. It was the first time Allen had seen Lavi's room, and it looked pretty much as he'd expected it would. Everything was in slight disarray, with wrappers and papers strewn about the floor. Lavi's bedspread was as violently orange as his armchair downstairs, and his pillowcases were a clashing shade of blue. The closet was overflowing with balled-up pants, rumpled shirts, and mismatched pajamas. The dresser drawers hung open and clothes spilled out of them as well. The thing that did surprise Allen—though later he realized it really shouldn't have—was the large volume of books that covered every available surface.

"Okay, so, we need to get a move on," the redhead declared, squinting at his alarm clock. "The meeting starts in ten minutes, and knowing these people they'll all be early." With that he pulled his shirt up and over his head.

"Um," Allen said, feeling very awkward and blushing slightly at his friend's sudden half-nakedness.

"What?" Lavi asked innocently.

Allen averted his eyes and began to dig in his own bag. "Nothing."

"Oh, I get it," Lavi said behind him, and Allen could hear the smirk in his voice. "You're jealous of my rockin' body, right?" Allen looked up at him sharply just in time to catch the redhead running his hands over his admittedly impressive abs. "We can't all be blessed with awesome bodies, but luckily I am. Don't worry, Allen, I won't laugh at you."

"Thanks," Allen muttered sardonically.

"I mean," Lavi continued, "I can tell you're probably pretty scrawny just by looking at you. But that's nothing to be ashamed of. We'll just have to start you on an exercise program. I usually don't go to the student Rec center because it's too much of a hassle, but maybe we could start going together!"

Allen knew that Lavi was trying to be supportive, but he just ended up feeling insulted. "Thanks," Allen said again.

"No prob, little buddy!" If Lavi had heard the sarcasm in Allen's voice, he didn't acknowledge it. They both changed in silence after that, and Allen felt rather foolish when he pulled the ski mask over his head.

"All right!" Lavi shouted, striking a ninja pose. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

They met Lenalee in the living room. She was dressed all in her blue clothes but held the ski mask in her right hand. She was smiling sheepishly at Kanda, who was sitting on the plaid loveseat with an incredulous expression on his face.

"Yu!" Lavi greeted. "Are you gonna come with us after all? You don't have any ninja clothes, but that's okay."

Kanda glanced that them over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. "You both are more retarded than I could ever have imagined." He turned back to Lenalee, ignoring Lavi's indignant spluttering and Allen's angry rebuke. "But I expected better from you," he told the girl reproachfully.

"Oh, come on Kanda," Lenalee said. "It's going to be fun! It's like an adventure!"

"Exactly," Lavi agreed brightly. "All right, team. Kanda is obviously not cool enough to join us on this mission, so let's move out!"

Lenalee stifled a giggle and slipped the ski mask over her head. It bunched awkwardly over her pigtails but she didn't seem to care.

They filed out through the front door, Kanda muttering disgustedly behind them, and crept across the street in the gathering darkness. At George's house, the last few neighbors were just arriving. George himself was berating them for being "late," though it was still only 8:27. He was wearing a ridiculously tall hat that he seemed to think made him look commanding, and Lavi clutched his sides in silent laugher from their hiding place behind the air conditioning unit that sat against the back of the house.

"All right," George's voice could be heard through the window just above their heads. His house butted up against the school's tennis courts, and a few boys who were hitting a ball back and forth looked at the trio in confusion. Lavi held a finger up to where his lips would be if they could be seen through the mask and the boys just shrugged, resuming their play.

Lenalee leaned forward on her knees so that her eye-level was just above the windowsill. "The whole neighborhood is here!" she breathed. "They all look rather disgruntled."

"Well, they are here to discuss the 'student threat'," Lavi said, using air quotes around the words "student threat." He was not being as quiet as he could have been, and was shushed by both Allen and Lenalee.

"This meeting can be called to order," George said. "We're here to discuss a grave issue. Slowly but surely, and quite nefariously, students are taking over the neighborhood. Our quiet, peaceful street is being overrun. What can we do about this?"

"I've been doing some research," an unknown man's voice replied, accompanied by the shuffling of papers. "According to documents I found at the government center, this neighborhood is still subject to some of the city's older laws."

"What does that mean for us?" George asked eagerly. "Anything we can use?"

"This is the most promising one so far…" the man trailed off, shifting through even more papers.

Lavi's hands twitched, and Allen looked a question at him. "I want to read those papers," Lavi explained, rocking forward and sitting on his hands to still them. "I _really_ want to read those papers."

"You're too curious for your own good, you know," Lenalee whispered, not taking her eyes off of the scene in the living room. She was the only one who could see inside, and Allen was a little jealous.

"Who's the moron with the horrible filing system?" Lavi asked, when the shifting of papers continued longer than anticipated.

"I think he lives at the end of the street," Lenalee murmured. "In the brick house. I've seen him a couple of times. Don't know what his name is, though."

"Ah, here it is," brick-house-guy said triumphantly.

"What's it say?" George asked, impatient.

"This is a law from when the town was first established. It says that if four or more unrelated people live in a house together, it technically constitutes a brothel, which of course is illegal. How many people live in that party house?"

Lavi had collapsed to the ground at the mention of the word "brothel," and was currently rolling around and trying very, very hard to stifle his laughter. Allen had to hold a hand over his mouth as well, and Lenalee was clutching the windowsill so hard her knuckles were turning white. She was shaking her head back and forth in quick jerks, tears of mirth filling her eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure," a woman's voice answered. "It has to be at least five, though. There are so many people coming and going all the time. Maybe it really _is_ a brothel."

Allen flopped down on the grass next to Lavi, unable to control his laughter any longer. The redhead turned and buried his face in the hollow of Allen's neck, gasping for air yet still trying to keep his laughter soundless. Lenalee kept making strange squeaking noises, hands clamped firmly over her mouth as she tried desperately not to give away their position.

"I wouldn't doubt it," George said darkly. "From what I've heard about this Bookman character, he's quite the little slut."

Lavi sat up with an indignant gasp. Allen grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down, putting a hand over the place he guessed the redhead's mouth to be.

"I refuse to allow you to speak about him that way," a voice, undeniably Mother's, croaked. "Lavi is a kind boy. He may be a little exuberant in his social endeavors, but he is a very sweet person. I think that this entire meeting is ridiculous. They're still just children."

"Your opinion is noted," George said in a bored tone. "But they are _not_ children. They are all legally adults, and they should act accordingly. I think we should pursue this brothel idea, see if we can maybe get them kicked out."

"We should make sure all of their bedrooms are up to code," another woman's voice added. "Especially if someone is living in the basement, there are very strict regulations they need to follow regarding windows and such."

"That's a good point," George said, enthusiasm returning to his voice.

"Come on, you guys," Lavi said, twisting out of Allen's grip and grabbing the white-haired boy's hand himself. "I think we've heard enough. I have an idea." He reached over and grabbed Lenalee's hand as well. He pulled the both of them back across the street, keeping low to the ground. The boys on the tennis court laughed and waved.

"What is it, Lavi?" Lenalee asked, taking off her mask when they were safely back inside the living room.

Kanda looked up from his spot on the loveseat. "You back already? That was a short adventure."

"You won't _believe_ what they said about us, Yu!" Lavi whined, whipping off his mask as well. He flopped down into his favorite orange armchair. His hair was wild and staticky from the mask, and Allen sighed, moving behind the chair to smooth it down.

"Oh, hey, thanks pal," Lavi said distractedly. Allen just walked back around the chair and sat next to Lenalee on the couch. "Anyway, Yu, you wouldn't believe what they think about us."

"Well, obviously they hate us," Kanda said, uninterested. He continued to flick through the channels on the TV, not stopping long enough to actually see what each channel was playing.

"They think we're running a brothel!" Lavi exclaimed.

Kanda just stared at him.

"He's not kidding, Kanda," Lenalee added. "They actually said that they think we're running a brothel out of our house." She shook her head, disbelieving. "What is wrong with these people?"

"They called me a slut," Lavi continued, pouting.

"Well, you are," Kanda said.

"Hey!"

"Oh my gosh, I just had the most brilliant idea," Lenalee said, eyes shining. She jumped off of the couch, grabbed the front of Lavi's shirt, and pulled him after her.

"Whoa, what's going on, Lena?" the redhead asked, stumbling a bit.

"I'll show you, it'll be great! We'll be right back," she called over her shoulder to Allen and Kanda as she dragged Lavi up the stairs.

Allen sat stiffly on the couch, aware that Kanda was glaring at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Um," Allen began, but Kanda silenced him with a scoff.

"Don't even try to talk to me, beansprout."

Allen colored. "My name is Allen, jerkface."

"Whatever." Kanda continued to flip channels before growling in frustration. "There's nothing on the damn TV." To Allen's surprise, he turned it off and threw the remote control on the floor. Then he turned to face Allen with a ferocious scowl.

"What?" Allen said defensively.

"Why the hell are you here all of the time?" Kanda demanded.

"I'm hanging out with Lavi and Lenalee."

"Why do you insist on doing it somewhere I have to look at your ugly face?" Kanda wanted to know.

"You think I like looking at you?" Allen grated. "It's bad enough you persist in confusing me by looking like a woman, but you could at least _smile_ once in a while."

"You better watch yourself," Kanda said, dangerously quietly. "You're not one to talk about looks, idiot, with that hideous scar on your face. Where did you get that thing, anyway?"

"Like I'd tell you," Allen retorted.

"Pft, you probably think it makes you special," Kanda said. "You obviously want attention. Who dyes their hair white?"

"I didn't dye it," Allen snapped. "It's naturally like this."

"What are you, albino or something?"

"It's from trauma, okay?" Allen said tiredly, not wanting to fight anymore. "I got them both—the scar and my hair—during the accident that killed my father." To his surprise, Kanda didn't say anything back. He simply scrutinized him with an unreadable look on his face before turning away and giving his trademark "che."

"Ta da!" Lenalee's voice rang out, breaking the tension. She was standing at the foot of the stairs holding a large piece of cardboard. Lavi was standing just behind her, looking excited and holding a bunch of painting supplies.

"What is it?" Allen asked, standing and walking over. Once he got closer, he could read the words that had been stenciled upon it in a fancy-looking script."This was _your_ idea, Lenalee?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yep!" she said proudly. "Lavi likes it too, though."

"I think it's hilarious," the redhead chortled.

"Brilliant," Allen agreed.

Lenalee beamed. "Thanks. Wanna help me paint it?"

"Sure!" Allen said, taking a brush and a tube of blue acrylic from Lavi.

An hour later the attendees of the neighborhood meeting trudged out through George's front door. They stopped dead in their tracks when they caught sight of Lavi's house—"The Party House," as they referred to it. Sitting on the front porch were three of the hateful students they had just spent so long discussing, drinking lemonade and laughing boisterously. But the three weren't what had caught their attention. Leaning against the front of the house was a large cardboard sign painted in bright colors.

It read:

_Bookman's Bordello—For Hourly Rates, Please Inquire Within._

* * *

So yeah, Tyki. I actually really kind of like him as a character, even though he's obviously a creeper and tried to kill Allen and stuff. I figured he could pull of being creepy/insane, so I put him in there. He'll show up again in chapter 9. What did everyone think of my attempt at drama? Usually I just stick to comedy, but I guess this is a sort of comedic drama because it is pretty absurd and whatnot. So...review? You know you want to!


	8. Bungle in the Jungle

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Oh my gosh, you guys. I rewrote this chapter so many times it's ridiculous. I was going a little crazy about it, to be perfectly honest. Plus, school starts for me on Thursday, so I have homework. Which is lame. Fic writing is obviously much more important to my life.

A few of you were wondering if that brothel law I cited in the last chapter was real and (hilariously) it is. The whole "the neighborhood is against them" plot line is actually based on true events. My sister and her friends moved into a neighborhood much like the one in the story, only there was no "party house" precedent that caused the neighbors to get all riled up. They simply hated them because they were students. They tried to use the brothel law to get them kicked out, but none of the city officials cared because the law was so outdated. They had a secret "neighborhood meeting" about it and everything. It was hysterical.

Anyway, this chapter is short and kind of meh. Sorry about that. I'll edit chapter 9 after I get back from orientation tomorrow, and hopefully start work on chapter 10. I have sticky notes all over the place full of ideas for this thing, and I have the ending all planned out, so don't worry about me getting writer's block or anyting.

I can't get over how much I love all of my reviewers. As of right now, I have 65 reviews. 65! I can't believe how many of you like this little thing. You guys are the best!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

"It was just a joke, officer," Lavi assured the amused female police officer Allen had seen him speak to on his first night in the neighborhood. "We were just playing around. We're not _actually_ running a brothel, I promise."

"I believe you, Mr. Bookman," Officer Moa replied, biting her lip.

"What?" George demanded from his place on the curb. He absolutely refused to step onto Lavi's property, a fact everyone present was completely okay with.

"Sir, I do not believe that these children are running an illegal business from this property. While the joke may have been in questionable taste," she winked at Lenalee as she said this, "I can't arrest them for it."

"But! Doesn't their current living situation constitute a brothel regardless?"

"I don't follow," Officer Moa said, frowning.

"We have recently discovered a law governing this particular neighborhood that states a house in which four or more unrelated people live constitutes a brothel." He waved a paper at the Officer but hesitated to bring it up onto the porch when she held out her hand for it. Finally, he raced up the stairs, shoved the paper at her (crumpling it a bit in the process) and raced back down to once again stand on the curb. Allen had to step on Lavi's foot to keep him from laughing out loud.

"How many people live here?" Officer Moa asked Lavi after she'd quickly scanned the contents of the page.

"Three, ma'am," Lavi replied, smiling politely.

"Lies!" George cried, pointing an accusing finger at Lavi, who raised an eyebrow. "I know for a fact that there are four of you! The three of you here, and then that rude boy with long hair." He folded his arms triumphantly. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask Officer Moa here to escort you off of the property."

"Um," Allen interrupted, raising a hand like he was in class. "Excuse me, but I actually _don't_ live here."

"Are you trying to trick us, boy?" George growled. "How dare you attempt to deceive an officer of the law."

"Mr. George, I live over there," he pointed at his own house next door. "Remember? I moved in a few weeks ago? You tried to prevent me from trimming the hedge?"

George was silent, his face becoming increasingly redder as the seconds passed.

"Sir?" Officer Moa said. "If there's nothing else, I'm afraid I'll have to—"

"Check their bedrooms!" George commanded. "Make sure they are up to code. I'm sure hoodlums such as them do not live in a house that is up to code!"

"Sir, I cannot simply waltz into this residence without cause. Or a warrant, for that matter. Besides, I am not a building inspector." She shared an amused grin with Lavi, much to George's chagrin.

"I will call a building inspector," George said. "He will be here tomorrow morning, so make sure one of you hooligans is around."

"Um, I have class," Lavi interjected.

"Me too," Lenalee added.

"Sir, you cannot call an inspector to come inspect someone _else's_ house," Officer Moa explained patiently.

"Then make them do it!" George roared.

"Officer, I assure you, my grandfather had an inspector check out the house when we moved in last year. He told us that everything was in order," Lavi explained.

"Don't believe him, he's—"

"Sir!" Officer Moa cut in sharply. "This is getting ridiculous. I am aware of your dislike for these students, but there is literally nothing you can do to force them to leave."

"I'll find a way. Just you wait. They're monsters. Monsters!" George sprinted back across the street and in through his own front door. Those on Lavi's front porch could see him staring at them from his living room window, clearly muttering to himself and shaking his fist in anger.

"That was a bit overdramatic," Officer Moa observed, blinking.

"Don't worry, Officer. He's always like that," Allen said dismissively.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll let you kids get back to your homework." She tipped her hat to them and hopped down the porch steps. She stopped to wave at them as they called goodbye, then slid into the driver's seat of her squad car and drove away.

"I like her," Allen commented. "She always seems to be on our side."

"She is," Lenalee agreed. "She knows we don't do drugs, or deal them, like a lot of college kids do in this town."

"She's hot," Lavi added.

Lenalee and Allen both rolled their eyes.

* * *

Kanda had _not_ been on board for the ninja party, and Lavi had spent the rest of the week rubbing the spot on his shoulder where the angry samurai had punched him after the redhead had pestered him about it too many times. As such, Lavi was currently on the hunt for a new theme for the party he'd decided to throw on Saturday, which just happened to be the very next day.

"What do you think, Allen?" Lavi said, swinging his legs back and forth.

"I don't know. I'm not creative like you and Lenalee," Allen replied.

"Come on, dude! Just throw some ideas out there. I won't laugh."

"Yes you will," Allen grouched. "And why do we have to have a theme anyway? You know I don't like costumes. That whole octopus hat affair was a fiasco."

"Maybe for you," Lavi said, grinning. "I don't think you understand how completely adorable you looked wearing it."

Allen looked away, face heating up. "Yeah, well."

"Awww, did I embarrass you?" Lavi simpered.

"Shut up."

The taller boy laughed and jumped off of the swing he'd been sitting on. Currently, he and Allen were loitering on the playground of the elementary school that was just down the street from both of their houses. Allen was sitting on the jungle gym, still annoyed with Lavi and his comment. Meanwhile, the redhead was racing around like a four-year-old, climbing all over everything he could find.

"You're too sensitive. Besides, that was a compliment," Lavi said, hanging upside down from the monkey bars.

"Whatever," Allen huffed. "Don't fall now," he added, with genuine concern.

"Don't worry. I am the monkey bar master," Lavi assured him. "Anyway, theme ideas! Let's hear them."

"Um," Allen said, climbing higher up the jungle gym. "I don't know."

"Lame," Lavi said, disappointed. "Come on, dude."

"I said I don't know!"

"Okay, here's an example," Lavi said, doing a back flip and landing neatly in the sand. His smile suddenly turning wicked. "We could do 'Allen in Wonderland.' Like, you're Alice, and then everyone else dresses up like characters from the books. I'll be the Mad Hatter, Lenalee would make a cute Dormouse, stuff like that!"

"You want _me_ to be Alice?" Allen asked, bewildered. "You do realize I'm not a girl, right?"

"Dude, if I thought you were a girl I would have been hitting on you a long time ago," Lavi said, waving a hand.

"Uh," Allen said intelligently.

"You know what, I think that this is a really great idea, actually. I just made it up on the fly, but the more I talk about it, the more I like it. We could decorate the house like Wonderland and have tea and stuff. Yu actually _likes_ tea…" He trailed off, pensive.

"Alice wears a dress," Allen said flatly.

Lavi smirked, looking Allen up and down and making him feel incredibly uncomfortable. "I think you could pull it off. We could get a nice big bow for your hair, and—"

"Absolutely not!" the shorter boy shouted. A woman who was jogging past them on the sidewalk that ran parallel to the park gave them a reproving look.

Lavi cackled. "Then come up with an idea, dude!"

Allen looked at the structure he was sitting on for inspiration. "We could do a jungle theme," he suggested tentatively.

"Hmm, that's a good idea! We could decorate the inside of the place with those tropical flowers and cut out paper leaves. People could dress up like jungle animals and stuff. So, African jungle or Amazon Rainforest?" Lavi looked at him expectantly.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters. They're both completely different!"

"You pick, since you know more about it." Allen was just glad he was getting out of wearing a dress, because he just _knew_ Lavi would have found a way to force him into it.

"Hmm, that's a tough one. I know! Let's just go to the party store and see what sort of decorations they have. We can make the decision there."

"Okay," Allen said, climbing down. "Shall we call Lenalee?"

"She can't come," Lavi explained as they walked across the grass and toward the gate in the fence. "She has auditions for the fall musical tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for her, yeah?"

"Okay," Allen said. "I bet she'll do great."

"She always does. Last year she was Ado Annie in _Oklahoma!_ I think that show is stupid, but she was excellent."

"What's this year's show?" Allen wondered.

"_Beauty and the Beast_," Lavi said, his single green eye shining. "I like the music in that one. I can just see her as Belle, can't you?"

Allen had to agree. Lenalee was certainly beautiful enough, though he realized with a start he'd never heard her sing.

"Anyway, come on! I'm driving, and _no one_ is arguing. Got it?" He turned to the shorter boy and raised a threatening eyebrow.

"Got it!" Allen said brightly.

They climbed into Lavi's Mustang and Allen immediately began to feel claustrophobic. "The inside of this car is a lot smaller than I'd thought."

"Well, it's a sports car. Sports cars are always small. Need to be aerodynamic and speedy, you know?"

The Mustang was also, as Allen quickly discovered, a manual. Lavi gripped the clutch with his right hand and placed his left loosely on the steering wheel. "Ready?"

"Sure?" Allen replied uncertainly.

The taller boy just laughed and turned the key in the ignition. The Mustang roared to life. Lavi slammed the gear into reverse and positively _zoomed_ backward, out of the garage. He threw it into drive, stomped on the accelerator, and shot down the alley.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Allen asked calmly.

"No we're not," Lavi replied, pulling onto the street directly in front of a truck. The driver laid on his horn and Lavi casually flipped him off.

"You can't flip that guy off!" Allen said, twisting around to see the driver of the truck's shocked and angry expression.

"He honked at me."

"Because you cut him off," Allen explained crossly.

"He'll get over it," Lavi said, swerving between lanes and among other cars without signaling.

"I can see why Lenalee didn't want to ride with you," Allen said, holding a hand over his slightly queasy stomach.

"I am a great driver," Lavi insisted.

Ten heart-pounding minutes later, the Mustang came to an abrupt stop in the parking lot of the local Party City, angled over three spaces.

"Look at this!" Allen demanded as he climbed, shakily, out of the passenger seat. "You're all over the lines!"

"Don't want someone parking too close to my baby and scratching her," Lavi said, patting the hood of the car affectionately.

"Let's just go inside," Allen said, pinching the bridge of his nose and walking toward the front door.

"Yessir!" Lavi said, flipping a salute and galloping after him.

When they entered, the bell above the door jangled and attracted the attention of the girl behind the counter.

"Welcome to Party City, can I—Oh!"

Who just so happened to be Chomesuke.

"Shit," Lavi whispered, shrinking behind Allen.

"Lavi!" She squealed, bounding out from behind the counter and racing to his side. She had pinned her nametag, which read _Sachiko_ but was crossed out with _Chomesuke_ written over top of it, to her kimono. "Allen, too," she added, looking at him briefly. For some reason her face fell when he smiled at her. "I guess it is true," she murmured.

"What's true?" Allen asked politely. No one ever knew what Chomesuke was thinking, and what she was talking about was often indecipherable. Still, the white-haired boy thought it would be rude to ignore her.

"You and Lavi," she said sadly.

"What about us?" Allen wondered. With a look of dawning comprehension, Lavi began edging away from his younger friend.

"You're going out," Chomesuke sighed.

Allen gaped at her. "Where would you get an idea like _that_?"

"Everyone knows about it," Chomesuke said, reaching into the folds of her kimono and withdrawing her cell phone. She pushed some buttons on it and held it out for Allen to see the screen. There was a picture of him and Lavi, sitting at their usual booth in The Refectory. It was from just after their Mikk encounter, Allen realized, when Lavi had been holding his hand. The redhead's face was dangerously close to his own, and the gleam in his only visible eye was positively predatory. It really did look like he was about to—

"LAVI!" Allen bellowed, turning to find that the taller boy had already escaped to hide somewhere in the store.

"What's wrong?" Chomesuke asked unknowingly.

"Miss Chomesuke, I can assure you: Lavi and I are _not_ dating. This is just a picture of him being a stupid _moron_ who is about to be pummeled within an inch of his _life_."

From somewhere toward the back of the store, Lavi yelped.

"Really?" Chomesuke asked, eyes lighting up once again. "Oh, I should have known! I knew you wouldn't betray me like that, Allen!"

Allen ignored the comment, stalking through the aisles until he came upon Lavi cowering behind a display of paper plates meant for children's' birthday parties.

"N-now Allen," Lavi stuttered when he realized he'd been discovered. He held up a package of cake plates that had Spiderman on them like a shield.

Allen just cracked his knuckles and grinned.

Twenty minutes later, Lavi was still grumbling and holding his head where Allen had hit him. Allen was calmly shifting through large cutouts of tropical birds.

"What about this one?" Allen asked a bit too cheerfully, holding up a toucan.

"If I don't like it are you going to hit me again?" Lavi asked, eyeing him cautiously.

"Probably."

"Then it's great."

Allen just chuckled, slipping the decoration into his half-full basket.

"So when's the party?" Chomesuke asked from where she was clinging to Lavi's arm.

"Tomorrow," Lavi said unthinkingly.

"Am I invited?" she asked, hopeful.

"Uh," Lavi said.

"Sure you are, Miss Chomesuke," Allen supplied, critically eyeing a roll of streamers.

Lavi slammed his head into a nearby display of "Casino Night" themed decorations and groaned.

"Yay!" Chomesuke chirped, ignoring Lavi's violent reaction.

Allen chuckled again.

"Can I get some help over here?" an annoyed-looking woman called to Chomesuke from the front counter.

"Oh, right!" she said, reluctantly releasing Lavi's bicep and leaving to actually do her job. "I'll be right there, ma'am."

"Quick, while she's distracted," Lavi whispered, seizing Allen's basket, depositing it on the ground, and then attempting to drag Allen to the door.

"Hey, I thought we were getting decorations," Allen said, twisting out of his grip.

"We need to get away from her," Lavi said frantically.

"Why don't you just tell her you're not interested?" Allen asked, walking back to his basket and picking it up as if Lavi hadn't just made a scene.

Lavi just made a strangled keening sound and leaned heavily on Allen's shoulder.

"Get off," Allen demanded.

"No," Lavi said in a dead-sounding voice.

"Honestly," Allen snorted. "And you call yourself a man."

"It was better when she thought you and I were dating. She didn't come around at all. I was wondering where she was the other day, but then I thought maybe she lost interest or something. Good for me, you know? But now she knows I'm still single, and she's telling everyone the pictures were just a misunderstanding and dammit you ruined my plan!"

"What plan?"

"To kill two birds with one stone," Lavi said, still half-laying on Allen. "See, if people thought that you and I were together, then I could get rid of my female stalkers, and maybe Tyki would back off too! He's convinced that I'm into guys and that all of my girls are just a 'ruse,' as he calls it. So if he thought that you and I were together, maybe he'd believe I was really in a relationship and leave me alone!"

Allen gawked at him. "You… you _wanted_ people to think I was your _boyfriend_?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think we can be friends anymore," Allen said, struggling out from under him.

Lavi just latched onto him even harder. "Come on, Allen! It would have been perfect! We hang out all the time anyway, so it's not like we would have had to do anything different. I wasn't going to actually kiss you or anything like that." His lips twisted up into a sly smile before adding, "unless you wanted me to."

"You obviously have a death wish," Allen hissed, wriggling. "I am going to murder you for this."

"I can't believe you wouldn't even help a friend in need, Allen," Lavi said, sniffing dramatically. "How callous of you, dude."

"I was going to help you," Allen informed him. "Lenalee told me you were worried about Mikk and that made _me_ worry, so I was going to try to help you come up with a plan to get him to leave you alone. But then you had to go and do something like _this_..."

"You were worried about me?" Lavi asked, surprised.

"Of course I was worried!" Allen said, exasperated. "This Mikk character sounds like trouble and Lenalee said that he might get violent. I didn't want him to try to hurt you or anything."

"Allen," Lavi said softly. "You really do care about me, don't you?"

"Not anymore," Allen said, folding his arms and looking away. "You do realize that this 'brilliant plan' of yours would have made me a target."

"Huh?"

"Lenalee said that Tyki is very possessive and has been known to get violent. Did you even think that he might unleash this violence on me, your supposed 'boyfriend'?"

Lavi stared at him, confused.

"I'll take that as a no," Allen grumbled.

"Since when is Tyki violent?" Lavi wanted to know.

"Lenalee told me she heard some rumors that he's really possessive and has a tendency toward violence. She was really worried about you. She was crying over it in Walmart—which you didn't even notice, by the way."

"Oh Lenalee," Lavi sighed, smiling fondly. "She's always so worried about us. She values her friends really highly, and sometimes she can overreact. I remember when Yu almost got hit by a car when he was crossing the street last year. He was fine, it didn't even touch him, but Lenalee nearly had a nervous breakdown over it and was crying all over the place."

Allen frowned. "So Lenalee doesn't know what she's talking about?"

"She probably just heard a weird rumor. I've never heard anything about it, and I know pretty much everything that goes on around here. Tyki's been stalking me for like, two years, and he's never done anything remotely violent to me."

"But she said you were worried about it."

"I'm worried that I'm going to have to deal with him stalking me for the rest of my life, that's all," Lavi said. "He's creepy as fuck, but he's not dangerous. At least, I don't think so. Besides, if it got to that point, I'd be able to take him in a fight. I'm the manliest man there ever was, you know." He flexed his right bicep to prove his point, grinning like a loon.

Allen's fears were, for the most part, alleviated. "All right—" he started to say.

"And," Lavi interrupted darkly. "If that bastard even _thought_ about going after you, I'd kick his ass so bad he'd be breathing through a tube for months."

Allen stared at him, wide eyed. "Wow. That's pretty, uh, hardcore."

"No one hurts my friends," Lavi said simply. Then he studied Allen for a moment. "I'm really sorry about all of this," he said at length. "I can't believe I thought that whole plan was a good idea. I'm obviously the stupidest smart person on the planet. I'll spread the word that this whole thing was just a big misunderstanding, okay? I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble. Can you forgive me?" He surprised Allen by pulling him into a hug.

"Yeah, yeah," Allen said, forcing sarcasm into his voice. He was glad that Lavi couldn't see him blushing furiously, as he was pressed against the taller boy's chest.

"I promise not to do anything like that again, okay?" Lavi said, releasing him.

Allen immediately spun around to hide his still-red face and continued to rummage through the decorations on the shelf. "You'd better not."

* * *

"Lenaleeeeeeeeee!" Lavi called the second he and Allen had dragged their bags of decorations into the kitchen. "Where are you, girl?"

"What's up, Lavi?" she wondered, poking her head into the room. "Oh, hey Allen!"

"Hello Lenalee," Allen greeted warmly.

"How were auditions?" Lavi asked seriously. "Did you get a callback?"

"Yes," Lenalee said shyly.

"That's great! When are they? Can Allen and I come watch?"

"Tomorrow morning. And no, auditions are closed. I'm sorry!" Lenalee looked stressed.

"Hey, don't worry! Need help running lines or anything? I'm a decent actor myself, you know," Lavi said, tapping his nose.

"That would be wonderful," Lenalee said, looking rather relieved. "I'm just so nervous, you know? It's a pretty small cast, and there are really only two good female roles."

"You'll get one," Allen said with confidence.

Lenalee smiled at him.

They spent a few hours going through lines, Lavi goofing around and making the other two laugh. By the time they were finished, Lenalee seemed much more relaxed and self-assured. She sang them Belle's opening song "Provincial Life," and Allen was impressed with how sweet and clear her voice was. When she finished, he and Lavi clapped wildly.

"Thanks guys," she said, blushing.

"You're a shoo-in," Lavi assured her.

"Are you done being loud in here?" Kanda growled from the doorway to the kitchen.

"Yu!" Lavi cried. "Wasn't Lenalee's singing wonderful?"

"Whatever," Kanda said, disappearing again.

"He won't admit it, but he really thinks she's talented," Lavi whispered to Allen.

"Aww," Allen cooed. "So he really does have a heart."

"Only when it comes to Lenalee," Lavi amended.

"Lavi!" Lenalee whined, blushing again.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Lavi said, slapping his forehead. "Yu, get back in here!"

"What the hell do you want?" Kanda grumped, leaning against the archway.

"We're having a party tomorrow," Lavi informed them. "It's jungle themed, so you'll need to get costumes. I sent out a mass text to the people I want to invite, so they already know about it."

"Jungle themed?" Lenalee said with interest. "That's a good idea, Lavi."

"It was actually Allen's idea," Lavi said, pulling the younger boy into a headlock. "Isn't he creative?"

"Get off," Allen said, struggling. Lavi snickered and released him.

"I think it's stupid," Kanda said bluntly.

"You're stupid," Allen shot back.

"Come on, Yu," Lavi said. "Help us decorate tomorrow?"

"I don't want to," Kanda grunted. "Not if the stupid beansprout is going to be there."

"Please Kanda?" Lenalee said, eyes shining with hope.

The Japanese boy stared at her for a moment before giving a brisk nod and looking away.

Allen raised an eyebrow at Lavi, who simply grinned and motioned he'd explain later.

"Yay!" Lenalee said, clapping her hands. "I'll need something fun to do after the stress of auditions.

Allen realized that it was nearly midnight and that he should probably head home. Lavi made him promise to come over early the next day in order to help set up the party. Allen said he would and then took his leave, waving goodbye to his friends as he went.

The jungle party the next day went rather smoothly—at least, as smoothly as any party thrown by Lavi could be expected to go. Lavi thought that Allen would make a good Ocelot, and he found himself forced into cat ears while Lenalee painted whiskers on his face. The red-haired boy had a good laugh at his friend's expense while Allen pouted. Everyone who attended the party knew better than to try to give Allen alcohol, and he ended up having a rather nice time talking with Lenalee and Miranda, though the latter spent most of the conversation on the verge of tears for one reason or another.

All in all it was rather uneventful, even taking into account the arrival of Chomesuke and her violent reaction to Lavi chatting up a girl with tropical flowers in her hair. The party-goers were entertained as she chased him all over the living room, crying and walloping him over the head with her handbag until he dove behind Allen for protection and begged for mercy. Throughout the incident Lulubell's maid Mimi, who hadn't even been invited, lurked in the corner and scribbled furiously in her notebook.

Lenalee told everyone that she felt pretty confident in her performance at callbacks and for the rest of the night she had people—in varying states of drunkenness—coming up to her and wishing her the best of luck in getting a part. She spent the majority of the evening being equal parts embarrassed and pleased.

Kanda spent the evening glaring at people and being grouchy in general, but that was to be expected.

Lavi, whose costume consisted of nothing more than a loincloth, spent his time at the party jumping around like a maniac. His hair was once again freed from its usual green headband and it whipped around his face as he pranced about, laughing. Allen watched him with a small, amused smile. This smile turned into a grimace when, about an hour later, Lavi draped himself over the smaller boy and promptly passed out.

"Rum," Lenalee had said in exasperation, rolling the redhead off of Allen and onto the floor. "He always gets like this when he drinks rum."

Allen simply smiled and hauled Lavi to his feet. They staggered upstairs, Lavi mumbling incoherently the whole way. Allen had to kick a giggling couple out of Lavi's bedroom and they rushed past him, gathering a few articles of clothing they had previously discarded as they went. Then the white-haired boy had all but shoved his friend into bed and pulled the covers up to his chest.

"G'night Allen," Lavi murmured, rolling onto his side.

"Goodnight, Lavi," Allen replied, his gentle grin from earlier in the night returning.

"Thanks," he mumbled, turning back around and giving Allen a sleepy grin.

"Just returning the favor," Allen explained, backing out of the room. "You get some rest now, okay?"

"'Kay," Lavi breathed.

Allen smiled a bit wider and pulled the door closed as quietly as he could.

* * *

I'm sorry if there are any typos in here. I got so sick of rewriting it that I couldn't bring myself to read through it again. Let me know if anything looks wonky and I can go back in and edit. Remember: reviews equal love!


	9. Give My Regards to Broadway

Hi everyone!

I'm back (finally)! I feel like such a jerk for starting out with a quick update schedule and then suddenly taking over a week to get the next chapter out. School is officially kicking my ass, but it's all right. I'm still dedicated to/obsessed with this story, so don't even worry! Chapter 10 is written and is in need of tweaking. It probably won't be up until next friday or saturday, though.

As always, I'd like to thank all of my lovely, wonderful, fantastic reviewers! These are, without a doubt, the nicest and most helpful reviews I've ever gotten. Oh, and Leafyaki? I went back and looked at the end of chapter 8 and I totally get what you're saying about showing instead of telling. My creative writing professors in undergrad would have kicked my ass for that part! I have no excuse for it other than weak writing. Failure. I'm going to let it sit for a while and then come back and try to edit it. So be looking for an edit of chapter 8 withing the next few weeks, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man

* * *

It was eight o' clock on a Sunday morning and all Allen wanted to do was sleep in. This, however, was simply not in the cards.

"Neighbor!" Lavi's voice floated in through Allen's open window. "Hey, neighbor, you awake?"

Allen grunted and rolled over, pulling a pillow over his head.

"Oh come on now, don't be like that!" the redhead whined, voice only slightly muffled by the pillow.

Allen sat up and threw the pillow at the window. It bounced off the pane with a satisfying _thwack_. "I'm sleeping over here," he growled loudly. Through the glass he could see Lavi standing at his own window, looking excited and holding up a gym bag.

"Come on little buddy! I told you I'd take you to the gym, and the best time to go is right away in the morning."

"How are you so perky?" Allen grumped, sliding out of bed and moving to lean out of his window. "You were pretty drunk last night."

"And you took care of me," Lavi added, giving a loud and obviously fake sniff. "You're such a good friend!"

"Yeah, yeah," Allen said. "Shouldn't you want to sleep for a bit longer or something? You don't even look sick."

"I told you—I don't get hangovers. It's a gift, I tell you. Come on, grab your tennies and let's get going!"

"Fine," Allen moaned, turning to pack his own gym bag. He dug his as-yet-unworn running shoes out of the back of his closet and threw them into the bag, along with an extra pair of socks, his student ID, and his keys. He was filling up a water bottle from the sink in the kitchen when Lavi let himself in through the front door.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Allen asked as the taller boy wandered into the kitchen.

"Well I figured that—" Lavi began, then stopped and bit his lip. He was obviously trying very hard not to laugh.

"What?" Allen wondered, frowning.

"Nice whiskers, kitty," Lavi cooed, reaching forward and scratching his head with a chuckle.

"What?" Allen said again, batting Lavi's hand away. He hurried to the bathroom to see what was wrong. Lavi trailed him the entire way, chortling. When he looked at himself in the mirror he slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned. He'd forgotten to wash off the whiskers Lenalee had painted on his cheeks the night before. Had Lavi not said anything, he would have ventured out into public like that. He turned the water on and began to look for a washcloth, only to find that Lavi was already holding one and grinning.

"Where did you get that?" Allen asked suspiciously.

"Linen closet," Lavi answered, tilting his head in the direction of the closet in the hallway. "Now, hold still." He reached over and wetted the washcloth, then proceeded to carefully wipe Allen's face clean.

"I can do this myself, you know," Allen said, trying not to sound nervous. Lavi was awfully close to him.

"This way is better, because I can see if I missed a spot easier than you can," Lavi replied lightly. He gripped the back of Allen's head with his left hand while he cleaned his face with his right. The look in his single green eye was of pure concentration.

Allen fidgeted a bit, earning a slight chuckle from Lavi, but at last his face was clean. "Thanks," he said, looking down.

"No prob," Lavi responded, tossing the dirty washcloth onto the floor.

"You can't just throw that on the ground!" Allen admonished.

"Why not?"

"It goes in the hamper," Allen explained, picking it up and depositing it in the tall wicker basket in the corner of the bathroom.

Lavi just looked at him, amused.

"What?" Allen snapped.

"Nothing," Lavi said, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go exercise! I'll show you my routine and everything. You'll be buff like me in no time!"

They exited the house and slung their bags over their shoulders as they walked down the sidewalk toward the University's student recreation center. Allen was excited to actually try it out, since he'd been so impressed with its facilities when he was first touring the campus. There was a large basketball court right in the middle of the building on the first floor that could also double as a volleyball court; racquetball and badminton rooms ringed the area as well. Upstairs, an Olympic-style running track circled the courts. The second level was also where all of the exercise machines were.

"Good morning!" Lavi greeted the bored-looking girl sitting at the front desk. She straightened up and smiled, replying "Good morning, Lavi!" and Allen just shook his head. He was about to pull out his ID card to swipe his way into the exercise area when he noticed a smaller room to his left. Curious, he walked toward it, carefully ignoring Lavi as he began to flirt with the now completely alert desk clerk.

The room was covered in thin mats with mirrors along one wall. Inside were five or six boys, swinging around what Allen thought were wooden practice swords. It was obviously some sort of martial arts room.

"Good, Kanda! Again!" the man at the front of the room (the _sensei,_ Allen supposed) shouted. Allen was only vaguely surprised to see Kanda leaping around, swinging the sword with skill. He'd seen the Japanese boy holding a _bokuto_ when he'd first met him, but Allen really hadn't thought much of it.

"Whatcha looking at?" Lavi asked, suddenly behind him. He leaned over Allen's shoulder and peered into the room. "Oh, it's Yu! Hey Yu!" Lavi called, waving.

Kanda glanced over his shoulder and scoffed. "Get out of here, stupid rabbit." His eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Allen. "You brought the beansprout?"

"'Course!" Lavi replied, sidling into the room. Allen reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt before he stepped onto the mats that lay on the floor. "What's up, dude?" Lavi asked him over his shoulder.

"You can't walk on those wearing your shoes!" Allen hissed.

"Why not?" Lavi asked.

"It's rude!"

Lavi leaned down and whispered right in Allen's ear. "I know that. I was just trying to annoy Yu."

"My goodness, you do have a death wish," Allen observed.

"Get the hell out of here," Kanda growled. His _sensei_ and the other boys in the room were giving them reproving looks.

"We should go," Allen said, backing slowly out the door.

"All right!" Lavi said cheerfully. "See you at home, Yu!" He blew Kanda a kiss, which caused his classmates to exchange confused looks. Kanda growled and made for him, wooden practice sword raised threateningly.

Allen turned tail and ran. Lavi was close behind, laughing all the way.

* * *

It was the Wednesday afternoon after Allen's eventful trip to the gym (he was _still_ sore—damn that stupid Lavi and his obsession with "reps") when Lenalee bounded, unannounced, onto his porch and promptly threw her arms around his neck.

"Uh," Allen said, dropping his Algebra homework in surprise.

"I got the part!" Lenalee cried from her place in his lap. "I'm Belle!"

"That's great, Lenalee!" Allen exclaimed, hugging her back.

"They posted the cast list this morning. I was so nervous I couldn't bring myself to check it, but Kanda dragged me there."

"Kanda did?" Allen said, surprised.

"He told me I was being a baby," Lenalee giggled, shifting to sit next to Allen on the futon. "I guess I was."

"Hey, anyone would be nervous," Allen comforted.

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me prepare last week, Allen. I really appreciate it. I think it's what made me feel so comfortable at callbacks."

"No problem, Lenalee," Allen replied. "Have you told Lavi yet?"

She shook her head. "I haven't seen him at all today, and I don't want to text him. I want to tell him in person."

"Well, here's your chance," Allen told her. Through the left-hand screen they could see the redhead in question trudging up the sidewalk toward his house.

"Lavi!" Lenalee called, pressing her hands against the screen.

Lavi looked up, confused. He eyed the bushes in Allen's front yard suspiciously, as if he expected someone to burst out from behind them and tackle him to the ground. It had probably happened to him on more than one occasion, Allen realized, what with all of his crazed fans.

"No, over here!" Lenalee said, waving her hands above her head.

Lavi's eye fell on her and he waved back. "Hey Lena! Hangin' with Allen?"

"Get over here. I have something important to tell you!"

Lavi dropped his backpack right there on the sidewalk and sprinted to Allen's porch door. He threw it open, leaped inside, and grasped the hands of a very startled Lenalee. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm better than okay," she said, recovering her composure. "I got the part, Lav! I'm Belle!"

For a moment, Lavi did nothing; he simply stared at her. Then he surprised everyone in the room by scooping her up and swinging her around a few times, crying "Yes, yes, I _knew _it!"

"Put me down, you weirdo!" Lenalee commanded, but she was laughing. Even Allen was chuckling at the display.

"You know what we need to do?" Lavi asked, whirling on Allen. He still held Lenalee firmly in his grip.

"Have a party?" Allen guessed.

"Exactly," Lavi replied. "You're learning. I'm so proud!"

Allen rolled his eyes. "Put her down, stupid Lavi," he said by way of reply.

"Oh yeah," Lavi said bashfully, lowering the girl gently to the ground. "Guess I got a bit carried away there."

"Like usual," Allen said, picking up his fallen homework.

"I know just what we're going to do for it, too," Lavi continued. "I've been thinking about this idea for a while, and now is the perfect time to use it!"

"It better not be that stupid 'Allen in Wonderland' idea," Allen said sharply.

"That idea isn't stupid!" Lavi protested. "It's complete genius!"

"'Allen in Wonderland'?" Lenalee repeated, bemused.

"Lavi," Allen hissed.

"Relax, beansprout, it's a completely different idea," Lavi assured him.

"I'm not a beansprout," Allen snapped.

"Jeez, you just can't get over that nickname, can you?"

"Will someone please explain this to me?" Lenalee broke in impatiently.

"Don't worry about it," Allen said quickly.

"Nope, nope, it's gonna be a surprise!" Lavi said, patting her on the head. "It's a party for you, so we'll set it up. Don't you worry your pretty little head about anything."

"All right then," Lenalee said, but she looked unconvinced. "Well, I'd better go call my brother. He'll be so excited!" She bid them goodbye and skipped next door.

"So what's this idea?" Allen asked once Lenalee was safely inside.

"A Broadway themed party!" Lavi said enthusiastically. "I have a bunch of these old Playbills we can put on the walls and we can make a stage to put the food on and hang a big drop curtain in the living room. We can even do karaoke!"

"I'm not good at karaoke," Allen mumbled.

"Dude, no one is good at karaoke. Even good singers suck at karaoke. It's just one of those weird rules of the universe."

"Okay," Allen said slowly. "So then why would we want to do it?"

"Because it's freaking fun, that's why!" Lavi enthused. "Oh man, I've been looking for a special, Lenalee-related reason to throw a party like this, and her getting this part is the absolute perfect one!"

"You sure are excited about all of this," Allen observed.

"That's 'cuz Lena's, like, my bestest gal-pal."

"Gal-pal?" Allen said incredulously.

"Shut up, you know what I mean. She just works so hard, I want to do something special for her. You'll help me right?" The redhead looked at him imploringly.

"Of course," Allen replied. "Do you even have to ask?"

"You are the best!" Lavi declared. "Okay, we'll have to do secret shopping and decorating on Friday. I'll get Yu to distract Lenalee."

"He'd do that?"

"Anything to get out of shopping and decorating," Lavi explained, smirking.

When Friday finally rolled around, Lavi pried Allen away from his General Psych homework and threw him into his Mustang.

"Why can't I drive for once?" Allen complained feebly.

"Because I said no," Lavi said brattily.

Luckily, Chomesuke wasn't working that afternoon (Lavi had called the store specifically to make sure) so they spent their shopping trip unmolested. They had fun picking out theatre-related decorations and then drove back to campus. Lavi had astonished Allen by simply strolling into the performing arts center and stealing props from the back rooms.

"What are you doing?" Allen whispered furiously as Lavi picked through an old trunk full of top hats.

"They never use these anymore," Lavi said, plunking the hat he'd been examining down on Allen's head. "That looks good on you."

"You can't just steal from the theatre department!" Allen rebuked.

"It's fine. I know the director really well. She already said that it was okay." He placed a hat on his own head and eyed himself critically in the ornately framed antique mirror that stood in the far left corner of the room. "Sexy," he said, with a satisfied nod.

"Oh, _please_," Allen said, rolling his eyes.

"What? You cannot deny my hotness, Allen. Many have tried, but none have succeeded."

"I'm leaving now," Allen said, pulling the hat off of his head and beginning to return it to its rightful place in the dusty trunk. Lavi snatched it back and placed it on his head again, much to Allen's chagrin.

"You didn't think I'd let you just get rid of this, did you?" Lavi tutted. "This is obviously what you're wearing to the party tonight. Me too, for that matter. I'll grab this one for Yu, but he probably won't wear it."

"I should have known," Allen muttered.

The things Lavi gathered for "decorations" seemed to Allen to be completely random. A bunch of black and white photographs in brass frames, an old camera, a bright blue rotary phone, a gingham dress, and many other things the white-haired boy didn't even recognize.

"Why are we grabbing all of these things again?" Allen wondered, clutching a bag full of what Lavi had begun calling their "swag."

"All of these props are associated with shows Lenalee's been in," Lavi said, as they began to walk out of the door. "This is a celebration of her, after all."

"Oh, that makes sense," Allen said. "You're putting a lot of thought into this."

"I've wanted to do this for a long time."

When they returned to Lavi's, they found that Kanda had indeed gotten rid of Lenalee (somehow) and a few of Lavi's other friends were there to help decorate. Daisya, the obnoxiously loud boy from Allen's first night in the neighborhood, was sober now and ready to help. He was still rather obnoxious, however. Miranda stood nervously in the corner and shrieked if anyone tried to get her to do anything. Allen finally convinced her to hang some decorations over the doorway to the kitchen, though she was very reluctant. Ten seconds later there was a small scream followed by a crash, and Miranda was sobbing on the ground about how worthless she was. The stool she'd been standing on was tipped over and the decorations were scattered all around her. Allen just shook his head and directed her to sit on the couch, where she remained—sniffling and hiccupping—until the rest of the guests started to arrive.

Lenalee was surprised indeed. When she saw all of the decorations, especially the ones Lavi and Allen had stolen from the prop room, she clapped her hands and giggled.

"Thank you so much, you guys!" she said.

"Hey, this is all for you. We need to celebrate your great accomplishment!" Lavi declared. All of the other party-goers agreed, and everyone raised a glass of whatever they were drinking in a toast. Lenalee flushed scarlet and beamed.

As expected, Kanda refused to wear the top hat Lavi had picked out for him. Lavi spent fifteen minutes chasing the Japanese boy all around the house, trying to force it onto his head. Finally, Kanda got so annoyed he whirled around, grabbed Lavi by the collar, and slammed him against the wall.

"Stupid rabbit," he began, through clenched teeth.

"Uh," Lavi said, eye widening in fear. "I'm sorry? Please don't kill me!"

Kanda just scoffed and released him, disappearing into his bedroom.

Lavi slumped to the floor of the hallway, sighing in relief.

Meanwhile, Allen had heard a bit of commotion out in the backyard and went out to investigate. When he found the source of the noise, he at first had trouble figuring out what he was looking at.

"Ah, if it isn't Lavi's little white-haired boy," came a familiar, oily voice.

"Mikk," Allen replied. "What is going on here?"

Tyki Mikk sat back on his hands and grinned. He and three other boys formed a loose circle on the grass, just inside of the circle of light that was streaming out of the kitchen window. The two boys on either side of him were grinning smugly. The third, who sat across from Tyki, was sniveling pathetically and wearing nothing but his boxers.

"Seriously, Mikk," Allen pressed, when the older boy remained silent.

"We're just playing a little game," Tyki replied, showing Allen a deck of cards.

"They asked me if I wanted to play a game called 'Poker'," the nearly-naked boy said softly. "I thought that it would be fun to learn something new, but apparently I'm not very good at this betting thing, so…" he trailed off, shivering.

Allen sighed, digging in his pocket. He drew out his wallet and threw a few dollars down into the middle of the circle. "Deal me in." He looked down at the upset boy and smiled. "I'll win all of your stuff back, um…"

"Arystar Krory," the boy sniffed. "The third." He added. "You can just call me Krory."

"All right, Krory," Allen said, smiling again. "My name is Allen Walker. Allow me to assist you." Allen sat down next to Krory and gave Tyki a confident grin. "What are you waiting for?" he asked.

Half an hour later, Krory had almost all of his possessions back and a small crowd had formed around Allen and the impromptu poker battle.

"Four of a kind," he declared triumphantly, laying down his hand.

Tyki and his friends exchanged disbelieving looks.

"How is he doing that?" one of the boys asked.

"I made sure to deal him all of the crappy cards," the other added.

"What's everybody doing out here?" Lavi's voice sounded. "Allen, is that you?"

"Hey Lavi!" Allen said cheerfully.

The redheaded boy crouched down next to Allen and looked at his hand. "You're playing poker?"

"Hello Lavi," Tyki said, smirking.

"What? Mikk! What the hell are you doing here? I didn't even invite you!" Lavi said, irked.

"I crashed," Tyki said nonchalantly. "We're just having a friendly game, aren't we boy?"

"Stop calling me 'boy'," Allen said, not looking up from the cards he was examining.

"He doesn't like nicknames," Lavi explained, then shook himself. "Why am I even explaining this to you, anyway? Get out of here."

"Hang on, hang on, he owes me another hand," Allen said.

"You _want_ to play with him?" Lavi said in disbelief.

"I just need to get the last of Krory's stuff back," Allen explained, pointing at a long black coat (or was it a cloak?) that lay in the grass at Tyki's feet.

"Krory?" Lavi asked, looking around at the other boy.

"Oh, hello Lavi," Krory said pleasantly. "Wonderful party you have here."

"I believe I have you beat," Allen said, drawing Lavi's attention back to him. He laid down his hand and gave Tyki a dazzling smile.

"A royal straight flush?" Tyki and his three friends exclaimed together. "No way!"

"Whoa, Allen," Lavi said, looking wonderingly at his friend. "That's a really difficult hand to get. How are you so good at this game, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm cheating," Allen said happily, leaning forward and swiping Krory's coat. He handed it to the poker-impaired boy, who was shedding tears of gratitude.

"Cheating?" Lavi hissed.

"Of course," Allen said, giving him a wicked grin. "I don't feel bad about it. They all ganged up on poor Krory here, who obviously doesn't know how to play the game. Plus, it's Mikk."

"I guess I just didn't see you as the cheating type," Lavi said, still unsure.

Allen's grin turned positively evil. "Winning is everything in games like these. In these situations, the ends always justify the means." He chuckled darkly at the shocked look on Lavi's face and turned back toward Tyki. "I think that's all for tonight, Mikk. Leave Krory alone in the future, all right?"

The wavy-haired boy studied him closely, wearing a strange smirk, before turning his attention back to Lavi. "You sure do know how to pick them, Bookman," Tyki said.

"Leave him alone," Lavi ordered, glaring.

"As you wish," Tyki replied, giving a slight bow. But he was still grinning his signature creepy grin, and somehow Allen knew that he wasn't going to honor that promise.

Tyki spent the rest of the evening dividing his time between staring at Lavi and staring at Allen. He seated himself in Lavi's favorite orange armchair with a decidedly regal air and ignored Lavi's increasingly fervent requests for him to leave. People generally avoided him, which Allen noticed seemed to amuse him immensely. He'd discovered the top hat Kanda had refused to wear and had placed it on his own head. Allen had to admit that it didn't look half bad on him. Still, his presence was a cause of great distress for Lenalee, who repeatedly cast him frightened glances until finally Daisya slipped away to find Kanda. The Japanese boy appeared minutes later, clutching a very real-looking samurai sword. He didn't say a word—he simply glared. Everyone in the vicinity shifted uncomfortably and even Tyki eyed the sword with caution.

"Well, I think it's about time I take my leave," he announced to the room at large, making a big show of standing and stretching.

"Finally," Lavi groused.

Tyki grinned widely and blew him a kiss. Lavi made violent gagging noises. The wavy-haired boy handed Allen the top hat he'd been wearing and winked. "I'll see you later then, Lavi. Boy." And he left.

Kanda snorted and vanished back to wherever it was he'd come from. Lenalee gave Allen a relieved smile before turning back to talk to Miranda. Lavi wandered over and slung his arm around Allen's shoulders.

"Dude, what was that about?" he asked.

"What was what about?" Allen asked, readjusting the top hat Lavi had forced him into. He'd never admit it to Lavi, but he actually kind of liked wearing it.

"Mikk," Lavi said, shuddering. "I expected something like this from him eventually, because he crashed my parties all the time last year. But why was he creeping on you so much?"

"I don't know," Allen said, frowning.

"He told me that he thought you were interesting…" Lavi trailed off pensively. "Huh, maybe he'll decide to be interested in you and leave me alone!" Allen couldn't help but notice the decidedly hopeful tone of his voice as he said this.

"Lavi," Allen said warningly.

"Kidding, kidding!" Lavi said, giving Allen's shoulders a little shake. "I'd rather have him creeping on me than have him bothering you."

Allen was stunned. "Lavi, that's really sweet of—"

"C'mon!" the redhead interrupted, dragging Allen forward. "Let's sing some karaoke!"

Allen groaned and dragged his feet, but eventually he gave in to Lavi's pestering—just like he always did.

* * *

Not since his second morning in the neighborhood had Allen been allowed to sleep in. All of his classes during the week met right away in the morning, and when it was finally the weekend there was always some sort of bizarre circumstance turning up to prevent Allen from getting his much needed rest. As the white-haired boy snuggled deeper into his covers that Saturday morning, he was glad that he was finally going to get the chance to rectify that.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Or not.

Allen shot straight out of bed, tripped over his backpack, and went sprawling to the floor. But he scrambled right back up, because the ear-splitting scream had sounded anguished, like the person who was making it was being tortured and/or murdered. There was no way Allen could ignore such a blatant cry for help.

"HOW COULD YOU?" The definitively male voice cried in distress. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?"

Allen hurried to get dressed, throwing on whatever he could find lying on the floor. He was in such a hurry he didn't even realize that he was wearing a pair of blue and green swimming trunks and a red tank top. Once he was reasonably clothed, he ran down the stairs at full tilt.

"WHY?" The voice sobbed. "WHY, LENALEE?"

Allen stopped short. Lenalee? Lenalee was…murdering someone? That made no sense. By this time he was in the living room, so he crept to the window above his couch and drew back the curtains in order to spy on the house next door.

A tall man in glasses and a white beret was standing in the front yard, clinging to Lenalee. He was crying loudly, much to Lenalee's very apparent annoyance. Lavi stood on the front porch, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. Kanda was leaning in the front doorway with narrowed eyes.

"Brother," Allen heard Lenalee say through the open window. "You need to calm down."

"How can you ask me to calm down?" the man cried, pointing viciously at Lavi. "You've been living with…with…these…BOYS!"

"Um, sir," Lavi began, but the man cut him off.

"SILENCE!" he shouted. "Lenalee, you've been lying to me! I did not raise you to be dishonest and immoral, young lady!"

Lenalee sighed and shook her head.

"Sir, I promise, we're just friends with your sister, nothing more," Lavi said in his most diplomatic voice. "In fact, we're sorta like her protectors. If anyone tries to mess with her, _wham_!" He threw a fairly impressive haymaker and grinned hopefully at the distraught man.

"You…are…?" the man said uncertainly.

"Yep! Right, Yu?"

Kanda just grunted.

"Well…" the man said, turning toward Lenalee. His eyes slid over the side of Allen's house and froze when he saw the white-haired boy in the window. "Like that perverted old man, staring out his window at my precious Lenalee!" he screeched. He pointed wildly at Allen, who instinctively ducked.

"That's just Allen, brother," Lenalee grumped, shrugging out of his grasp. "He lives next door, and he's probably wondering why you're making such a racket out here."

"Get on out here, beansprout!" Lavi called, waving Allen over.

Allen tiptoed through his porch and walked cautiously over to his neighbors' front yard. He stopped a few feet from the man who'd been identified as Lenalee's brother and offered him a polite grin. "Hello, sir."

The man eyed him suspiciously for a while, until Lenalee elbowed him in the side and told him to be nice.

"Komui Lee," the man finally said. "I'm Lenalee's brother."

"I gathered," Allen said, still grinning.

"You're not an old man," Komui observed.

"No, sorry," Allen said sheepishly, though he couldn't figure out why he was apologizing. "My hair's just like this naturally. I'm actually a freshman at the University."

"He's my friend too," Lenalee informed Komui. "So you'd better be nice to him."

"I cannot approve of my darling sister living with two _boys_," Komui said, glaring at Lavi and Kanda again. "And the fact that yet another one lives right next door is very disturbing to me as well."

"Sir, I can assure you that—" Allen began, but was cut off by Lenalee delivering a high-kick to her brother's head.

"Whoa," Lavi and Allen said together.

"Be nice," she commanded.

"But!" Komui whined, completely unperturbed by the blow that would have given anyone else a concussion. "You told me they were girls!"

"Because I knew you'd freak out like this!" Lenalee said, running her hands through her hair. "When Lavi asked me to room here with him and Kanda, I jumped at the chance. I get so much more space here than I would have living in the dorms again. They aren't going to do anything to me, brother, so you _need_ to calm down."

"But…" Komui trailed off. He sniffed, defeated.

"We take really good care of her, we promise," Lavi said, holding up a hand. "Scout's honor."

"What are you even doing here, brother?" Lenalee asked, exasperated. "You can't just show up unannounced like this."

"I was just so excited that you got the lead in your play," Komui explained. "I know how hard you worked for it. I thought I'd come surprise you and take you to breakfast to celebrate. I was even going to take you shopping." Lenalee perked up at this. "But now I'm not so sure…"

"Brother," Lenalee said, gently now. "I've been living here since May, and this is the happiest I've been in a long time. You remember how miserable I was freshman year, right?"

"Of course I remember," Komui said softly. In the background, Lavi nodded sagely.

"But here, all I am is happy! Lavi and Kanda are really supportive of everything I do. Allen, too! He and Lavi helped me practice for my callbacks. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been as comfortable during my audition and I might not have done as well as I did."

"Really?" Komui asked, looking between Lavi and Allen curiously.

"Really," Lavi said. Allen nodded.

"Well," Komui said, crossing his arms. "I'm still not completely happy with this arrangement, but I would hate to do anything to cause Lenalee to be mad at me." He glanced over his shoulder at her a bit nervously. She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

Lavi stifled a snicker. Kanda just rolled his eyes and went back inside the house.

"Come now, Lenalee!" Komui exclaimed, suddenly enthusiastic. "Breakfast! I know how much you love pancakes. And I'll buy you a new pair of boots, how about that?" He began to drag her toward a white Suburban that was parked by the curb. Lenalee glanced over her shoulder and gave them an apologetic smile. She climbed into the car and waved. Komui gave them once last mistrustful glance and drove away.

"That was weird," Allen commented, trudging over to sit on the porch step next to Lavi.

"You're telling me," Lavi said, scratching the back of his head. "I thought he was going to have a heart attack when I answered the door. He threw this at me." Lavi held up a stuffed pink bunny that had been lying on the welcome mat. "I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish with it."

Allen stared at it, bemused. "I hope this doesn't turn into another ridiculous debacle. It seems we always have to deal with stupid stuff like this."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Lavi said. "I wonder why that is."

"I blame you," Allen said.

"What? Me?" Lavi yelped, pointing at himself.

"Yep."

"That's not nice," Lavi pouted.

"Just calling it like I see it."

"Mean," Lavi whined, throwing the pink bunny at Allen. It bounced off of his head and into the half-dead daffodils that lined the front of the house.

"I'm not getting that," Allen said.

They sat there in companionable silence for a while, before Lavi turned to him and said "go get changed."

"Huh?"

"I'm all for creative fashion choices, dude, but I can't be seen with you when you look like that."

Allen looked down at himself and realized that his outfit was looking a tad schizophrenic. He blushed. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking about matching when I threw this on. I heard screaming and I thought someone was hurt and needed help."

"Aww, you're such a little hero," Lavi said, ruffling his hair. "But seriously, go put a different outfit on."

"Why? I want to go back to bed."

"Too bad," Lavi said, bouncing to his feet. "Komui gave me an idea."

"You want to go creepily obsess over Lenalee?"

"Dude, no," Lavi said. "I want to go get some pancakes!"

"Have fun," Allen said, attempting to sneak away.

"You know you're coming too," Lavi said, grabbing his arm.

Allen sighed. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

Yay Komui! Isn't he just a fun character? I'll do my best to get chapter 10 up as soon as I can. Thanks for reading! Drop me a review, if you feel so inclined, and let me know how I'm doing with this one!


	10. A Serious Conversation

What's up, my awesome readers?

I've come to the sad realization that my updates will probably only come on weekends anymore, what with school being the bane of my existence during the week. Grr. But! They will still come, because I can't just leave this story hanging, can I? That would be awful and it would make me very sad.

What we have here, folks, is what I like to call the "obligatory exposition/tragic backstory revelation" chapter. There won't be much in the way of things happening, but we learn more about the Allen, Lavi, and even Lenalee to a certain extent, so it's important for things like character development and all of that good stuff. But I promise I'll have more things happening in upcoming chapters. After all, Halloween is on the way (in the story, anyway) and I have something ridiculous planned for that. So bear with me, everyone!

Once again, thank you to all of my lovely reviewers. You are all wonderful for giving me feedback on this monstrosity of a story :)

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

"I'm really sorry about that whole thing with my brother yesterday," Lenalee said, playing with the lid to her mocha.

"Don't worry about it," Allen replied, waving a hand. He and Lenalee were currently sitting at a small table in _Hevlaska's, _the tiny coffee shop on the top floor of the student union. Allen took a bite of the flaky apple pastry Lenalee had bought for him and offered her a gooey smile.

"Still," she said. "He tends to overreact to stuff. The whole time during breakfast he interrogated me about you guys, and then he started muttering about Sir Komlin…"

"Sir Komlin?" Allen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"His robot," Lenalee replied, hanging her head. "He works at _Branch Robotics_. It's this really big company. He's actually one of their top scientists in research and development. He works on projects for the company, but he also has his own projects he does on the side. The Komlin series has been…well…a notorious failure."

"What does he use them for?" Allen wondered.

"All sorts of things. He tried to make one that would do all of his work for him, but someone spilled coffee on it and it went on a rampage. That didn't end well for anyone involved. Then he built another one that was supposed to fix all of the other robots when they broke down. That one also left a trail of destruction in its wake." She sighed and blushed, as if she really didn't want to say what she was about to say next. "Then when I was a junior in high school, he thought that I was dating this…man…in our neighborhood. I'd known him since I was little, and I was actually just trying to help him pick out a birthday present for his son John. Komui used his Komlin to try to take the poor man out."

Allen gaped at her. "That seems a tad extreme."

"It is, believe me. Ugh, it's so embarrassing," she wailed, burying her head in the crook of her arm. "Now I'm afraid he'll try to sic one of those things on you guys."

"I have no desire to be attacked by a giant robot, Lenalee," Allen informed her.

"Don't worry, I won't let him," Lenalee said, glowering. Allen gulped. "It's just, after everything Lavi's done to help me out, I can't let Komui show up and wreck everything. He tends to do that."

"You know Lenalee, I've been wondering," Allen said, attempting to change the subject. Seeing Lenalee this upset was starting to make him upset as well. "How did you even meet Lavi? He's older than you are, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Lenalee said, perking up a bit at the subject change. "Well, when I took the University's placement test, I scored really high on the English section. Besides art and stuff, that's always been my best subject. Because of my high score, they let me skip the introductory classes and put me right into a 200 level Lit. class. Lavi and Kanda were actually both in the class too." She smiled at the memory. "I made the mistake of sitting right next to Lavi on the first day."

"I can see how that'd be a bad decision," Allen agreed, frowning. "He does _not_ know when to shut up."

Lenalee laughed. "No, no, it wasn't because of that. It had to do with all of the other girls at the school. They had all come up with this weird rule that no girl was allowed to sit next to Lavi and 'hog him all to herself'."

"That's kind of crazy," Allen pointed out.

"Totally," Lenalee agreed, sipping her coffee. "But I was just a freshman at the time, so I didn't know about their dumb rule. And then, being Lavi, he started hitting on me."

"Of course he did," Allen said drily. "What did you do?"

"I just laughed at him," Lenalee said, shrugging. "He's kind of a ridiculous person, you know?"

"Believe me, I am well aware."

"He's not used to that," Lenalee said, continuing her story. "The girls around here usually try to flirt back or start to have a nervous breakdown or whatever when he talks to them. I just talked to him like a normal person. Later, he told me that he found it refreshing. So we just sort of became friends. And you know, when we discussed the books we read for class and stuff, he and I had a lot of the same ideas. I tried to make friends with Kanda too, but he's not much of a talker."

"He talks when he's insulting me," Allen pointed out helpfully.

"True," Lenalee said, laughing. "But he was always hanging out with Lavi, and when I hung out with Lavi I just sort of became friends with Kanda through osmosis or something. I think he secretly liked that I'm more grounded than Lavi is."

"That statement is certainly true."

"So yeah," Lenalee concluded. "Those two are really the only friends I made last year. I got sort of blacklisted by all of the girls on campus for hanging around Lavi too much."

"That's terrible!" Allen cried, indignant on his friend's behalf. "That's it, it's official: all of the girls at this school are completely insane. What is it about this place that makes it a prime gathering place for all of the crazies in the state?"

Lenalee giggled. "You're funny, Allen."

"I'm serious, Lenalee!"

"Yeah, well. I made a lot of friends through the theatre department this past summer. Even though I haven't been here long, I've been consistently getting good parts so I've become close with the other theatre majors and minors. This is my first time with a lead, though," she said, brow furrowed in anxiety. "I hope I can pull it off."

"You can," Allen began. "From what I've seen, you—"

They were interrupted by Lenalee's phone ringing. The ringtone was some sort of happy show tune that Allen didn't recognize. Lenalee smiled apologetically, dug the phone out of her bag, and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

She was silent for a moment as the other person spoke.

"I'm at _Hevlaska's _with Allen," she replied. She looked at him and mouthed '_Lavi.'_

Allen nodded in understanding. _Speak of the devil_... he thought.

"Well, you weren't home when we left!" Lenalee was saying defensively. When Allen looked a question at her she covered the mouthpiece and said "he wants to know why he wasn't invited."

Allen simply rolled his eyes.

"Not everything is about you, you know," Lenalee said into the phone.

"_Well, it should be!"_ Allen could hear Lavi's indignant shout from the other side of the table.

Lenalee held the phone away from her ear and winced. "Stop yelling at me!" she commanded.

After that Lavi must have spoken in lower tones, because Allen couldn't hear him anymore. From what he could piece together from Lenalee's side of the conversation, it seemed that Lavi had tried to do some laundry—to disastrous results. The basement was flooding and all of Lavi's socks had come out pink. To top it all off, Kanda was angry that his bath towels had been shredded (no one could quite figure out how that had happened) and Lavi was currently hiding from him in the garage.

"All right, I'll be right home," Lenalee said. "Yes, goodbye Lavi." She snapped her phone shut and sighed. "Sorry, Allen. We'll have to continue this some other time."

"That's all right, Lenalee," Allen assured her. "From what I've gathered, you have some sort of disaster at home you need to take care of."

Lenalee shouldered her bag and rolled her eyes. "With Lavi, there's always some sort of disaster that needs taking care of. And the disaster is usually him." She sighed again.

"I can believe that," Allen said, smiling. "Do you need any help?"

"No, it's all right. It's not your problem. I'll see you later, Allen."

He waved to her as she left, her pace a bit quicker than it normally would have been. As he took another bite of his delicious apple pastry, he hoped that everything would turn out okay. And that, the next time Lavi should inevitably invite himself over, he'd leave his calamitous attempts at housework at home.

* * *

"Dude," Lavi said, appearing out of nowhere and nearly scaring Allen to death. "I just heard the greatest thing ever."

"How did you find me here?" Allen demanded quietly, glancing furtively at all of the students who currently occupied the library with him. He'd discovered that while his back porch was a lovely place to sit, it was not an ideal place to study. Every time he would make himself comfortable on his old futon and try to read one of his textbooks, Lavi would immediately spot him and come running over to drag him off on some absurd adventure. He cursed the one-eyed boy's direct line of sight into his private sanctuary; it was a shame his porch windows didn't come with shades. Because of the constant Lavi-related interruptions, Allen was having a hard time completing his coursework and resolved to hide from the exuberant redhead in the dark recesses of the University's library. Clearly, this plan was a complete failure.

"I saw you come in," Lavi said, waving a dismissive hand.

"You were here already?" Allen asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. Aside from TA-ing his history class (which he was surprisingly good at, even though he spent most of his time bothering Allen), Allen had never seen Lavi do anything even remotely academic. That he even knew where the library _was_ surprised the white-haired boy immensely. "Why?"

"Dude, stop asking questions, all right? I need to tell you this awesome thing that I just heard. Also, you'd better not have plans for tonight, because we're going somewhere."

"Of course I don't have plans," Allen snapped, annoyed. "It's Thursday. It _is_ a school night, you know."

Lavi laughed, delighted. "You are too cute, man. Seriously."

"Just get on with it," Allen sighed.

"Okay, so," Lavi began, pulling out the chair across from Allen's and sitting down at the heavy wooden study table. "I was talking to Daisya, right?"

"Okay," Allen said slowly, unsure of where this was going. Daisya Barry may have been an even more ridiculous person than Lavi, if such a thing were even possible. Nothing good could come of whatever scheme the two of them had cooked up.

"And he was telling me about this house in his neighborhood," Lavi said, leaning toward Allen in his excitement.

"Which neighborhood is this?" Allen wondered. He had no idea where Daisya lived.

"Market Street. Right behind the science department building. But anyway, that's not really important. So, there's this house, right? Crazy old guy used to live there, apparently. He was a history professor at the University but he retired way before I got here to impress him with my awesomeness. He was a cranky old guy, but he loved books and history. Specifically, hidden history. That's the stuff I'm most interested in. I'm doing my thesis on it, actually."

"That's nice," Allen said, still a little lost but attempting to go with the flow. "So are you going to go visit him and talk about it or something?"

"Well, see, that's the thing. Old guy died years ago, only no one seems to have done anything to his house. Daisya said that it's just sitting there, empty. Do you know what this means?" Lavi bounced excitedly in his seat.

"That the old man probably didn't have any relatives and died sad and alone?" Allen offered.

Lavi ceased his bouncing, stricken. "Dude, that was… That was so depressing! Why would you say something like that?"

"Because it's probably true…?"

"Don't bring up stuff like that, man. Now I'm all sad." His shoulders sagged dejectedly.

Allen felt a little guilty for causing his friend such distress, but his impatience with this nonsensical story was quickly overriding it. "So then what do _you_ think it means?"

"That we should obviously break into the house and look at all of his stuff," Lavi said, brightening. "I need a lot more sources for my paper, and if he's got research no one else has it'll make my paper just that much better."

"Breaking and entering. You are advocating breaking and entering, not to mention criminal trespass. Good lord, do you sit by yourself all day and think of ways to possibly get arrested? Is that a fun activity for you?"

"Okay, first of all—calm down. Second of all—we won't get caught! No one goes in there, and Daisya said there's no alarm or anything. We can just pick the lock and sneak in," Lavi explained patiently.

"So Daisya is the expert on this house all of a sudden?" Allen said. "How do we know he's trustworthy? The few encounters I've had with him have not left me with a favorable impression."

"Don't worry about it, pal," Lavi said, leaning back in the chair and placing his hands behind his head. "Daisya's a cool guy. His info is legit. At least, I think it is."

"That's very reassuring," Allen deadpanned, attempting to return to his Psychology textbook. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have twenty more pages of this to read."

"Normally, I would be all for that," Lavi said, smirking at Allen's irritation. "Reading is great and all, I have to say. But you know what's even greater than reading? Me. So you should really just abandon that and come hang out with me. You hungry? We could get pizza!"

"Lavi," Allen said, trying very hard to remain patient. "I understand that you do not do your homework. It is, after all, your prerogative. I, however, intend to take full advantage of this time in which to study. So." He gave his taller friend a very pointed stare.

"Dude, seriously, who taught you how to talk?" Lavi wondered.

"_That_ is what you focused on?" Allen said in disbelief. "You aren't a very good listener, are you?"

Lavi grinned. "Not when it pertains to things I'm not interested in, no," he admitted.

"Well, at least you're aware of it," Allen said, looking back down at his book. "Now. Go away."

"Mean!" Lavi whined. "You are so mean to me. But I refuse to take no for an answer. I'm just not that kind of guy. So come on." With that, he snatched Allen's Psych book off of the table and ran away.

"Lavi!" Allen called after him in exasperation. "Get back here! Give me back my book!"

Lavi's only response was a mad cackle from somewhere deep in the reference section. Allen sighed and began packing up his things. Somehow, Lavi had won. Again.

"I'll get you, Lavi," Allen said, loud enough that the redhead could probably hear him from whichever shelf he was hiding behind. "One of these days, I'll get the better of you."

The rest of the students in the library glared and shushed him.

* * *

Allen didn't get his book back until 7:45 that night when Lavi galloped into his house without knocking and threw it at him as he was cooking dinner. It hit him in the stomach and the redhead grinned when he toppled over with a surprised "oof!"

"Here's your stupid book back," Lavi said cheerfully. "Psychology really is overrated, you know. History is where it's at, lemme tell ya. Which reminds me: come on! Let's go investigate that house."

"I'm sort of in the middle of something here," Allen wheezed, pushing the book to the floor and rubbing his stomach. "And did you really have to chuck this at me?"

"'Course!" Lavi chimed, pulling out a chair and sitting down at Allen's kitchen table. "What are we having?"

"_I'm_ having stir-fry. I'm not making anything for you."

"Come on, dude! Sharing is caring!" Lavi said, pouting.

"This portion size is barely enough for me, let alone another person," Allen said, standing and indicating the large amount of meat and vegetables on the stovetop.

Lavi stared blankly at Allen's cooking. "There's, like, two pounds of food right there. At least."

"And?"

"That's messed up."

"Why are you so obsessed with how much food I eat?" Allen wanted to know. He pulled out a large plate and tipped his dinner onto it. Steam rose up and bathed his face for a moment, and he smiled at the warmth. "Your house is right next door. Go eat your own food."

"But Yu was supposed to go to the grocery store today and he didn't," Lavi complained. "All we have is a two pieces of bread and, like, three cans of peas. Who even _likes_ peas? That's what I wanna know."

"You asked Kanda to go shopping?" Allen said, nonplussed. "I thought you said he hated shopping."

"Oh yeah," Lavi said, frowning. "Huh. No wonder he tried to kill me when I handed him the grocery list."

"He did not try to _kill_ you," Allen said, pouring himself a glass of milk. He carried his dishes over to the table and sat across from Lavi.

"He did so!" Lavi insisted. "He held his sword at my neck and told me to do it myself, even though the chore chart says it's totally his turn!"

"I was actually going to ask you about that," Allen said with his mouth full. Lavi wrinkled his nose but Allen ignored it. "Why does Kanda even have a sword, anyway? That seems a little dangerous, especially since he's such an unreasonable, violent jerk."

"Well, he is a martial artist," Lavi explained. "You saw him at the gym last Sunday, right?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know he does martial arts, but I didn't think he had an actual sword that he just sort of carries around with him. Seems mental to me."

Lavi laughed. "It kind of is, now that I really think about it. Plus, you know what else is weird? He named it."

"He named the sword?" Allen said, amused.

"Yep! He calls it Mugen."

"'Mugen' isn't even a word," Allen said dismissively.

"It's Japanese for something," Lavi replied. "I can't remember what, though, and my Japanese isn't very good."

"You speak Japanese?" This was new information to Allen.

"A little. I speak a little bit of a lot of languages. Just enough to get by, and to be able to understand important words in historical documents that are written in languages that aren't English."

"Huh," Allen said. "I didn't know that about you."

"We haven't really known each other that long," Lavi pointed out. "There's still a bunch of stuff I don't know about you, either."

"I suppose," Allen said edgily.

"Like," Lavi started, and Allen really hoped he wasn't going to be in for a long interrogation session. "Why did you dye your hair white?"

_Of course,_ Allen thought. _One of only two questions I don't want to answer, and he has to ask it first._

"Um," Lavi said awkwardly, after a few moments of silence. Allen had stopped eating and was simply staring at the wooden grain of the table, eyes wide.

"I…" Allen began.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's totally cool," Lavi said, waving his hands frantically. "I just thought, you know, it's an interesting choice. A lot of people go blond, but not a lot of people go white, you know?"

"I didn't dye it," Allen said quietly.

"What?" Lavi said softly, unconsciously leaning forward.

"It's naturally like this," Allen said, tugging at a lock of his hair.

"You're not albino, though," Lavi said, leaning even closer and peering into Allen's gray eyes.

Allen chuckled, but the tension didn't leave his shoulders. "No, Lavi, I'm not albino."

"Then what happened?" Lavi wanted to know.

"Trauma," Allen explained, picking at his food. "I got my hair, and my scar, in the accident that killed Mana." He looked up at Lavi's quick intake of breath. The redhead was looking at him with a mixture of shock and pity, two emotions he really didn't want to see on his normally cheerful friend's face.

"Can I ask what happened?" Lavi asked gently.

"We were…walking," Allen began haltingly. "Just on the sidewalk, you know? It was early evening—not dark enough where we weren't visible to drivers on the road. We were coming back from the public library. I had a couple of books. I'd just started reading chapter books," he recalled, a bitter smile on his face. "I was so proud. I wanted to read one to Mana, to show him how good I was at reading." Allen glanced up at Lavi. He was rapt, saying nothing. "We were about three blocks from the house we were staying at when this car… I don't know exactly what happened, but we heard the tires squeal and then it was just coming right for us. Mana pushed me out of the way. I hit my face on the ornamental front gate of the house we were passing—that's why my scar looks so strange. The wrought iron dug into my skin and left the shape of a star right here." Allen pulled back his bangs and showed Lavi the upside-down pentacle above his left eyebrow. "The doctors said they'd never seen anything like it. I'm lucky I didn't lose my eye. That would have been awful." Allen glanced up quickly, eyes widening as he realized what he'd just said. "Oh, Lavi, I'm so sorry, I didn't—"

"It's cool," Lavi reassured, softly touching the patch over his right eye. "Finish your story," he added kindly.

"Oh, right," Allen said, looking down at the table again. "I got out of the way, but Mana…Mana didn't."

"Allen," Lavi said lowly.

The white-haired boy brushed a stray tear from his eye. "It was really hard to see something like that. I don't like to think about it."

"Of course you don't," Lavi said. "God, I shouldn't even have—"

"Calm down," Allen commanded with a small smile. "It's okay. You're my friend, I really should tell you things like this anyway. It's an important part of what makes me who I am."

"You're right," Lavi said, nodding. "In that case…" He touched his eye patch again, then looked up and straight into Allen's eyes with determination. "When I was seven years old, I was out playing in the woods behind my grandpa's house."

Realizing where this was going, Allen held his hands up in alarm. "Lavi, you don't have to tell me about your eye just because I told you about mine."

"No, no, Allen, I want to. It's something I've never told anyone, not even Yu or Lenalee."

"Really?" Allen asked, touched that Lavi trusted him so much.

"Really. I think it'll be good for me. So just listen up, okay?" He grinned.

"Okay."

"So anyway. This was right after I lost my parents, so I had just moved in with Gramps. At the time he lived in this big old house out in the middle of nowhere. There were fields and streams and all sorts of stuff for me to run around and explore. It was great." Lavi smiled fondly. "There was this pond where all these ducks lived, and I'd go visit them every day. It got to the point where they were so comfortable with me that they would eat right out of my hand."

"Cute," Allen commented.

Lavi beamed at him. "Yeah. But," he continued, smile dimming, "there was one place Gramps told me never to go. See, there were these woods along the left side of the property. All of these tall green trees with plants and wildflowers growing all over the place. One of the kids at my new elementary school told me that there was supposed to be a cave in there somewhere, where old gangsters from the twenties and thirties used to hide money. Of course, I _had_ to go investigate." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Gramps told me no. No, no, no. It was way too dangerous and I would get myself lost. He told me to be content with the duck pond. But of course, I wasn't content with the duck pond."

Allen leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. His dinner sat to his left, cold and forgotten in his fascination with Lavi's story.

"It was my very first time venturing into the woods, and I got lost almost immediately. Still, I was a kid, and I thought it was all just a big adventure. I'd been wandering around for a few hours, looking for the cave, when there was this loud bang and suddenly my whole face felt like it was on fire."

"A gunshot?" Allen breathed.

"Yeah," Lavi confirmed. "Hunters. They heard me crashing around and they thought I was a deer or something. I wasn't wearing blaze orange, so they couldn't tell. They came running over when I started crying though. It was a kid, only a little older than me, and his dad. His dad was teaching him how to hunt—he was demonstrating how to line up the shot and pull the trigger when he shot me."

"Oh, god, Lavi," Allen said.

Lavi sat forward, leaning his chin in his hand. "This was back before everyone had a cell phone, so the dad picked me up and carried me all the way to his truck, then drove me to the hospital. The bullet was lodged in my eye, and the doctors had to remove it." He touched the patch yet again. "But since they got me there so quickly the damage wasn't any worse than that. The hunter guy felt so bad that he offered to pay for all of my medical expenses. Gramps is rich, so he didn't really need him to. Sure did bitch at me about it, though. Lots of 'I-told-you-so' going on."

"I'll bet," Allen said faintly.

"I don't like talking about it, because I just feel so stupid that it happened. I mean, Gramps told me not to go onto that land. It was a wooded, rural area, so obviously there'd be hunters about. I just feel so…foolish about it. You know?"

"Lavi," Allen said, reaching across the table and lightly touching the back of his friend's hand. "You were seven years old. How could you have known?"

"Still," Lavi said, looking down.

They were silent for a moment. Then, Allen gave a quiet chuckle. Lavi looked up, inquisitive.

"Well, aren't we just a pair?" Allen said with a crooked smile. "Quite a bit of childhood angst between the two of us, isn't there?"

Lavi threw his head back and laughed, and the heavy atmosphere that had descended upon the kitchen dissipated. "Yeah, I'd say there is." He leaned his chin in his hand again and smiled fondly at his younger friend. "I can't believe how well I can relate to you," he said. "I'm really glad I met you."

"Oh," Allen said, sitting up a bit straighter and fidgeting. "Um, thank you. I'm glad I met you too."

"Mmhmm," Lavi hummed, pleased. "Of course you are. It's 'cause I'm awesome," he said, standing and stretching. "Now. History House Adventure Time—go!" He held up a triumphant fist.

Allen sighed and looked sadly at his cold, congealed dinner. "I'm still hungry."

"We can get pizza after our excursion," Lavi said, coming around the table and grasping Allen's wrist. He tugged the shorter boy along in his wake, eliciting a surprised yelp.

"Why are you so obsessed with pizza?" Allen demanded, trying to twist out of Lavi's grip. "And let go, I need to do the dishes before I leave."

"You can't do dishes before an adventure," Lavi said, as though that were some established rule that everyone knew and Allen was trying to be ridiculous on purpose.

"But they'll be all nasty when I get home," Allen complained. "All I need to do is rinse them off and stick them in the dishwasher.

"I'll do that for you when we get back," Lavi offered.

"No!" Allen said quickly, visions of flooded basements and shredded bath towels in his head. "No, it's fine. I'll just do it later."

"All right!" Lavi crowed, pulling Allen out of the house and into the yard. "Daisya's neighborhood isn't too far away, so we'll just walk there. History, here we come!"

"Yay," Allen said unenthusiastically.

Lavi dragged him down the sidewalk, cackling.

* * *

So, next chapter = haunted house adventure. I'm having a lot of fun writing it, too. Then the chapter after that will be Halloween and the epic party Lavi throws for it (because you know he'll be all over that shit). So. Until next time!


	11. Another Ridiculous Adventure

Hi there, everyone!

Well, here's chapter 11. I had way too much fun writing this chapter, although I'm pretty sure it makes absolutely no sense. Yay! It details one of Lavi and Allen's many adventures together and shows their happy fun bonding time.

Last chapter, a lovely reviewer asked whatever happened to the whole "Lavi and Allen fake dating" thing. In case anyone else is confused by this, I'll give a little explanation. Lavi saw how upset Allen was over the whole thing and realized he was being a complete moron. So he (along with overzealous help from Chomesuke) let it be known that the picture that seemed to indicate the two of them were on a date (or what have you) was simply the result of a misunderstanding. And everyone listens to Lavi, because Lavi is...well...Lavi! He is king of the University and all must bow before him! Or something.

Anyway. Thank you, once again, to everyone who has favorited/alerted/reviewed this story, but especially those of you who take the time to review. Your kind words and thoughtful questions really do encourage me to keep on truckin'!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

"Wow," Lavi said, craning his neck to look up at the surprisingly imposing structure before him. "This place is, uh…"

"Obviously haunted?" Allen supplied, casting a suspicious glance at the house's darkened attic window.

"What? Haunted?" Lavi said, chuckling nervously. "I never said anything about it being haunted."

"Yeah, well, I did," Allen said drily.

"You guys ain't scared of this old house, are ya?" Daisya asked from his spot at the end of the driveway.

Lavi turned to look at him and gave a weak smile. ""Course we're not. Right, Allen?"

"Right," Allen agreed. He glanced at the windows again and shuddered.

"If you're too scared you can always just go home and hide under your beds like pussies," Daisya cackled.

Lavi bristled. "I don't think so. Allen and I are incredibly badass, you know. We ain't afraid of no ghosts."

Allen started humming the _Ghostbusters_ theme and Lavi shot him a grin.

"All right," Daisya said, unconvinced. In the waning sunlight, the makeup under his eyes made him look ethereal and a tad frightening. His seemingly-permanent wicked grin wasn't helping matters, either. He would have given Allen the downright creeps if it weren't for the ridiculous jester hat he was wearing. There was a large, intricate bell tied to the end of it that jingled merrily whenever he moved. It served as a reminder to Allen that this was Daisya Barry they were talking to here. It gave him a bit more courage, and he steeled himself for what Lavi was inevitably going to say next.

"Well," the redhead said, looking inquiringly at Allen. "Shall we?"

"Sure," Allen said, making his way toward the front door. The house was on the cul-de-sac at the very end of the street—a place not many ventured in this part of town. Because of this, they could let themselves in the front door without anyone seeing them.

"How do you think you're going to get in?" Daisya wondered. He'd followed them to the door and was peeking curiously over Allen's shoulder.

"Uh," Lavi said, scratching the back of his head. "I dunno."

Allen sighed. Daisya just cackled again.

"Here, move over," Allen said, pushing Lavi out of the way. He pulled a bent paper clip out of his pocket and shoved it into the lock. He jimmied it a bit, his brow furrowed in concentration; after a moment the handle turned and the door swung creakily open. Allen grinned up at the two older boys, triumphant.

"How the hell do you know how to do that?" Daisya demanded.

"When you have a legal guardian like I did growing up, you have occasion to learn many of these useful little skills," Allen said nonchalantly.

"Huh?" Daisya said, turning to Lavi with a frown.

"Dude, I believe it," Lavi said. "I've met Al's godfather. The guy is majorly sketchy."

"Whatever," Daisya said, shaking his head. "Well? Aren't you gonna go inside?"

As one, Allen and Lavi turned to look into the darkened interior of the house. In the waning sunlight that spilled over the threshold of the now-open door, they could barely make out vague, hulking shapes lining the walls of the narrow entryway. The mat on the floor just inside the door was faded and worn, but they could clearly read its message. Unlike many houses that sported happy, floral mats that practically screamed "Welcome!", this mat was a dull beige and literally read "Go Away."

Lavi raised an eyebrow at this. "Guy really wasn't social, was he?"

"Must not have been," Allen agreed.

Neither of them made a move to enter the dark, stuffy house.

"Well?" Daisya said after a moment of awkward silence.

"Are you coming with us?" Lavi asked him, a bit desperately.

"Hell no!" Daisya answered. "If I get caught by the police one more time I'll lose my soccer scholarship for sure. You have fun, though."

"Are we going in or not?" Allen said lowly.

"We can't really back out now, can we?" Lavi muttered. "Daisya would never let us live it down."

They both looked over their shoulders at the soccer player, who waved at them jauntily.

Lavi let out a slow breath. "All right then." He reached out and took Allen's hand (neither of them saw Daisya's raised eyebrow at this) and pulled him into the darkness.

Allen pulled the door almost entirely closed behind them. This was in order not to draw suspicion and also to leave a way out if they needed to make a quick escape. They crept along, trailing their fingers along the wall to keep from crashing into anything. When they left the entryway and moved into a larger room, Allen's hand hit a light switch. He cautiously flicked it on.

Unfortunately, since no one had lived in the house for quite some time, the electricity was turned off and the light fixture above them remained dark. Allen made a frustrated noise, but Lavi began digging in the backpack Allen hadn't even realized he'd brought.

"Got us covered, neighbor," Lavi said, pulling out two flashlights. He handed one to Allen and then flicked on his own, sweeping the narrow beam of light around the room. Allen quickly followed suit.

It was the living room, they discovered, and it was stuffed with antique furniture. A large red-velvet couch sat in front of a brick fireplace, with two matching chairs on either side. The coffee and end tables were a dark mahogany, and if they hadn't been so coated with dust they would have been beautiful. Tiffany lamps sat upon them and Allen marveled at the colors and designs of their shades.

"This is clearly an old-person house," Lavi said, wrinkling his nose. "Look at all of this old furniture. And who likes Tiffany lamps anymore?"

"I do," Allen said, a little offended.

Lavi shined his flashlight directly into Allen's eyes and chuckled at his protests. "You _would_ like Tiffany lamps."

"I think they're classy," Allen said haughtily. He moved toward the closest one, but knocked his leg against something on the floor that had been concealed by the darkness. He toppled onto the couch in a cloud of dust.

Immediately, Lavi began sneezing uncontrollably.

"Damn…you…Allen…" Lavi said in between bouts of sneezing. "I'm…sensitive…to…dust!"

"Then why the hell did we even come into this old house?" Allen wanted to know, brushing off his pants as he held in a sneeze of his own. "Old houses are bound to be filled with dust, Lavi. Especially old houses that haven't been lived in for quite some time."

"Yeah, well…" Lavi trailed off, wiping furiously at his nose and pouting.

Allen was quiet for a moment, listening to Lavi curse softly and mutter to himself about the evils of dust, allergies, and clumsy beansprouts.

"If you're quite finished," Allen said, once his friend had trailed off into petulant silence.

"Yeah, yeah," Lavi grumbled, moving toward the far side of the room. He stepped carefully, shining the light on the floor in order to avoid tripping over anything.

"What are you looking for?" Allen wondered.

"There's an old roll-top desk over here that looks promising," Lavi explained. Intrigued, Allen followed cautiously.

The desk was shoved into the far back corner, partially concealed by a stack of cardboard boxes pretentiously labeled _Things of Significant Importance_. Lavi shifted the topmost boxes to the side and pulled up on the yellowed packing tape that held them closed.

"Would you look through these for me, neighbor?" he requested. "If they're as important as the label would like us to believe there might be something I can use in there."

"What am I looking for?" Allen asked, lifting the flaps on the box closest to him. He shone his flashlight inside and squinted at the contents.

"Anything that looks historical, I guess," Lavi said carelessly, slipping into the narrow space between yet another stack of boxes and the front of the desk.

"That's not very descriptive," Allen murmured, but began digging nonetheless.

"Damn, looks like this thing needs a key to open," came Lavi's slightly muffled voice. "It shouldn't be too…oh, here it is!" There was a scraping sound and the boxes directly to Allen's left swayed dangerously.

"Watch what you're doing back there," Allen snapped, reaching out his hand to steady the stack. "If these things fall over they could crush me."

"Right, right, 'careful' is my middle name," Lavi replied.

"I highly doubt that," Allen snorted, holding a stack of papers close to his face to read them. They were old receipts, he realized. "Well, it seems that Mr. uh…" he trailed off, attempting to read the name on the wrinkled old papers and failing miserably. "Mr. Whatever-his-name-was bought an entire kitchen set in 1976. In avocado green, no less. I'm assuming you aren't interested in this."

"Not particularly, no," Lavi said.

"Hmm. Well, it seems the contents of this box are old receipts. For everything the man ever bought, I'd say. Who would want to keep records of all of this?"

"My Gramps does," Lavi admitted. "The guy records _everything_, it's ridiculous. Ah, here we go!"

"Find something?" Allen asked, closing the first box and sliding over to inspect the second.

"It's a letter from a publishing company. Seems Mr. History was writing a book about…something."

"History, I'd imagine," Allen replied sardonically. "Goodness, what is all of this now?"

"What's all what now?" Lavi asked curiously, poking his head out from behind a box.

"It seems Mr. History was an avid collector of…I think these are doilies?"

"What the fuck is a doily?" Lavi demanded.

"You know, they're those lace things that you put on the backs of chairs and on top of tables and stuff. They're decorative," he said, holding one up. It was old, yellowed, and a bit frayed, but the delicate design indicated high-quality craftsmanship.

Lavi frowned at it before disappearing behind the stack of boxes again. "So just more lame old-people shit?" he said dismissively. "You probably like those things, too," he added slyly.

"I do not!" Allen said indignantly. "They're—"

The white haired boy abruptly cut off his tirade and whipped his head around. He eyed the darkened entrance to what he assumed to be the kitchen warily.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Did I hear what?" Lavi replied, not even bothering to pause as he continued to rifle through the desk.

"Shh!" Allen said.

Lavi did pause at this, leaning around the boxes again to raise a questioning eyebrow at Allen. He opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again with an audible _click._

A soft rustling sound was coming from the kitchen.

"Does that sound like…footsteps to you?" Lavi whispered worriedly.

"I sure hope not," Allen whispered back. "If we're caught, we're going to have a hard time explaining what we're doing in here."

Lavi turned to look at him, his single eye wide. "Ghosts aren't going to ask for an explanation, Allen."

Allen just stared at him.

"What?" the redhead hissed.

"Ghosts," Allen said flatly, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, you're the one who said that the house looked haunted when we first got here!"

"True," Allen admitted. "I mean, this house is rather creepy-looking, after all. But I was just being grumpy. I don't _actually_ think this place is haunted, Lavi."

"How can you be sure?" Lavi worried, eye straying toward the kitchen again.

"Because there's no such thing," Allen said, in a tone of voice he usually reserved for conversing with small children.

"I dunno, man," Lavi said, inching out from behind the boxes again to stand next to Allen. "I've read about some really weird stuff during my research. Did you know that there's this old castle in England where—"

"I don't want to hear about it," Allen interrupted, holding up a hand.

"Ah, what's this?" Lavi teased. "I thought you said there was no such thing as ghosts."

"And I still maintain that there aren't," Allen said, closing the doily box and standing himself. "But all the same, I'd rather not have you telling creepy stories in this dark, stuffy house, okay?"

"All right, but it's really a good—" He cut off as the shuffling was heard again, this time louder and closer.

"Maybe we should get out of here," Allen breathed.

"But I want to find this mysterious manuscript," Lavi said, determined. "According to all of the documents I found in that desk, Mr. History was researching a few of the ideas I'm exploring for my thesis. So I _need_ to find this thing."

Allen was about to protest when Lavi firmly gripped his shoulders, spun him around, and pushed him toward the staircase. He struggled briefly but soon gave up. Once again, Lavi was going to get his way.

They both decided it would be best to avoid the kitchen.

"Nobody stores manuscripts in kitchens, anyway," Lavi insisted.

The stairs were treacherous. The sun had almost completely set while they were investigating the living room, and the creaky stairway ascended into total blackness.

"Um," Allen said anxiously.

"Come on, come on," Lavi urged, enthusiasm returning now that they were out of the immediate vicinity of the ominous kitchen-shuffling. His hands were still clutching Allen's shoulders and he gave him a soft push. The white haired boy stumbled forward with a squeak.

"Stop pushing me," Allen commanded.

"Stop just standing there," Lavi retorted.

"Why don't you go first, then?" Allen snapped.

"Heh heh," Lavi chuckled weakly, removing his left hand from Allen's shoulder to tug at his collar. "Ladies first?"

"I am not a lady!" Allen hissed.

"Nothin' wrong with being a lady, little buddy," Lavi said, pushing him up the stairs. "In fact, I really like ladies."

"I am aware of this. Everyone is aware of this. And that would all be very well and good," Allen said, dragging his feet as Lavi continued to force him to ascend the stairs. "If I were, you know, actually female. Which I'm not. At all."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Lavi said, in a convincing imitation of a British accent.

"You can't use that!" Allen cried.

"What do you mean?" Lavi said, his voice a little strained as he shoved Allen onto the topmost step.

"That quote! I used that quote against you before, when we were talking to my pathetic excuse for a godfather, so you can't use it against me now!"

"Says who?" Lavi demanded, steering Allen down the hall and into the first room they came to.

"You just…can't!" Allen maintained. "It's a rule! Or something."

"Uh huh," Lavi said, pulling his flashlight out of his bag again. Allen had seen him store it there in order to have both of his hands free to manhandle him. Still, the redhead kept one hand on Allen's shoulder as he swept the narrow beam of light around the room.

"Where are we?" Allen wondered, shining his own light on a pile of junk on the floor.

"Looks like a bedroom," Lavi replied. There was a large bed in the middle of the room, heaped with clothes that smelled old and musty. A rickety dresser sat in the corner and the mirror that hung above it was cracked right down the middle. Picture frames hung on each of the four walls, but upon closer inspection the boys found that they were empty.

"This is weird," Allen said, running a finger along a dusty frame.

"Very," Lavi agreed. "But it doesn't seem like there's anything important in here, so maybe we should find another room?"

"All right," Allen agreed.

They took about three steps toward the door before they heard a loud bang from behind them. They both whirled around, and Lavi held his flashlight up like a sword.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"Don't know," Allen said, shaking his head. He shone his light along the floor and found that the picture frame he'd been inspecting had fallen, leaving glass and splintered wood littering the floor. "Huh. The picture wire must have been weak and gave way when I touched it."

"Then why didn't it fall when you were actually touching it?" Lavi inquired suspiciously. "Why did it fall when we were walking away?"

"Shifting air currents made by our bodies being in motion?" Allen guessed.

"Sure," Lavi agreed. But he looked troubled.

"You're not going to blame ghosts again, are you?" Allen said, putting his hands on his hips.

"No!" Lavi said quickly.

Allen raised his eyebrows.

"Come on, let's just go." Lavi grasped his wrist and dragged him across the hall.

"Why do you always drag me everywhere?" Allen asked, wrenching his arm from the taller boy's grip and rubbing his wrist.

"Would you willingly come with me if I didn't?"

"Probably not," Allen admitted.

"Then there you go," Lavi said, smiling winningly. "Okay, this is a bathroom."

It was a bathroom, Allen noted. The pale blue tile on the walls and on the floor was cracked and molding; a claw-footed tub stood in a pool of stagnant water. The whole room smelled of decay.

"Ugh, look at that thing. I don't like claw-footed tubs," Lavi said, inching away from it.

"Why not?" Allen asked. "They're antique. They give the place a bit of class. Goodness knows this bathroom needs it."

"But, dude," Lavi said, distressed. "It's a bathtub. With _feet_."

"And?"

"Why do bathtubs need feet, hmm? Shit, the thing has _talons_, Allen. Talons! What does it need talons for? The only things that have talons are, like, birds of prey and stuff. Is this bathtub a predator? How can you have a relaxing bubble bath in a carnivorous bathtub? _Think about it_."

Allen just stared at him.

"What?" Lavi said defensively.

"Lavi," Allen said, patting the redhead's shoulder affectionately. "It takes a very special kind of person to pull off a crazed rant like that. I'm a bit impressed, really."

"It wasn't crazed!" Lavi insisted. "Just look at its talons, Allen. Look at them!"

"That's why it's called a 'claw-footed tub'," Allen explained slowly.

"It's creepy," Lavi said, folding his arms across his chest and pouting.

"All right, we'll go to a different room and leave the scary tub behind. I'll even close the door behind us so it can't get out," Allen said in a voice one would use to soothe a frightened puppy.

Lavi scowled at him and stalked out into the hallway.

Allen followed, snickering. It felt good to have the upper hand for once, he decided. As he turned to close the door behind him, he thought he caught sight of something just to the right of the tub. He brought up his flashlight for a closer look, but when he shone the light there was nothing there. He frowned and began to turn, but heard a quiet _splash_ and watched the surface of the puddle beneath the tub begin to ripple. He bolted out of the room and slammed the door shut. He leaned heavily against it, wide eyed and panting. Lavi was leaning against the wall across the hall, hands behind his head. When he caught Allen's eye, he gave him a knowing look.

"Told you they were creepy."

Their enthusiasm for this adventure was rapidly deteriorating, but Lavi was resolute in his desire to find this alleged manuscript and refused to let Allen leave.

"But beansprout, I _need_ it," Lavi whined, as they crept into the last room at the end of the hall.

"My name is Allen."

"Dude, get over it," Lavi sighed. "Seriously."

"How would you like it if someone called you a stupid nickname all the time?"

"I'd love it!" Lavi said, grinning. "I always wanted a good nickname. I guess Yu always calls me 'stupid rabbit,' and while I don't mind it, I kinda want something cooler."

"Like what?" Allen wondered.

"I dunno," Lavi said, squinting into the darkness. "I can't come up with my own nickname. That's not how nicknames work. Plus, it's lame. You should come up with one for me!" he decided, his single green eye shining.

"I don't think so," Allen said. "Sorry."

"Why not?" Lavi demanded, strangely offended. "I'm not cool enough for a nickname?"

"I don't like nicknames," Allen pointed out. "So why would I want to come up with one for you?"

"Oh," Lavi said, scratching the back of his neck. "I guess that makes sense. But I'm like, your bestest friend in the whole universe! You'd think you'd get over your irrational hatred in order to be a good friend."

"It's not irrational. What's wrong with wanting to be called by your real—"

_Creak._

"What the _hell_ was that," Lavi demanded, shining his flashlight out into the hallway.

"I don't know," Allen whispered.

_Creak._

"Is there someone on the stairs?"

"Dude, don't ask me," Lavi said, holding up a hand. "I ain't going out there to check."

_Creak._

"Hello?" Allen called tentatively. "Is someone there?"

Silence.

"Dude, this is the freakiest shit I've ever been through," Lavi whispered fiercely. "Let's just find that manuscript and go, yeah?"

"Maybe we should just _go_, manuscript be damned," Allen said, edging away from the door.

"But this is obviously an office of some kind," Lavi said, indicating the large oak desk and the straight-backed chair that sat in front of it. He waved a hand at three metal filing cabinets that stood along the left-hand wall. "If there's a manuscript to be found in this house, it's probably in one of—"

_Creak._

Lavi squeaked and wrapped his arms around Allen's neck, smashing the shorter boy's face against his chest.

"Lavi!" Allen sputtered. "I can't breathe!"

"Wha? Oh, sorry, buddy!" Lavi loosened his grip a bit but didn't let go, staring intently at the doorway.

"Did you want to check those filing cabinets?" Allen asked awkwardly. He was acutely aware of Lavi's closeness and he felt his face flush with…what? Embarrassment? Annoyance? Something like that, he supposed.

"Yeah," Lavi said, shifting so that he still had one arm around Allen's shoulders and dragging him toward the drawers. He positioned his body so that he was between Allen and the doorway at all times. The first filing cabinet was empty, and the top two drawers of the second held nothing Lavi deemed to be of importance. He scanned the files he found with surprising speed, reading the contents of six or seven folders in the time it took Allen to read one. At last, the redhead's hand fell upon a thick manila envelope labeled _Manuscript—Private_ in curvy writing. "Bingo!" the redheaded boy cried, holding it up in triumph.

_Creak_.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Allen whispered.

"I'm right there with ya, neighbor. But how do you propose we do that?"

Neither of them had any desire to set foot in the hallway—not with all of the creaking going on out there.

"We could always try the window," Allen suggested.

"That's a good idea!" Lavi said, patting his friend on the back. They made their way toward the window and drew back the curtain. The sun had set long ago, and the crescent moon barely illuminated the yard. Still, the boys could plainly see the dark outline of tree branches that ran conveniently level with the window. "We'll just climb out the window and onto the tree," Lavi said, prying open the rusted lock and heaving open the squeaky window.

"We're on the second floor, though," Allen said nervously. "What if we fall?"

Lai looked down at the ground, uncertain as well. "It is a bit high up."

_Creak._

_Creak._

_Creak._

_Shuffle._

"Oh shit, the damn shuffling is back," Lavi muttered. "I was really hoping it would stay in the kitchen."

"It sounds like it's coming from right outside the door," Allen pointed out helpfully.

"So it does," Lavi said. Then he pasted on a giant, fake smile. "Come on, Allen! We can just climb out this window and down to the ground. This tree isn't very high up at all!"

"But you just said it was high up," Allen began.

"No I didn't!" Lavi said through clenched teeth.

"Yes you—"

"Climb the damn tree," Lavi commanded, giving Allen a little shove toward the open window.

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you. Just go, okay?"

"Is this another 'ladies first' thing?" Allen said, frowning.

"No, this is a 'you go first because I don't want to leave you alone and unprotected in a potentially haunted house' thing. So just _go._"

"You're trying to protect me?" Allen asked, bewildered.

_Creak._

_Shuffle._

"Allen Walker, if you don't climb out this window in the next five seconds, I will push you out of it," Lavi said, dangerously serious.

"All right," Allen gulped, sticking his right leg outside and grabbing for the sturdiest branch he could reach. Once he was successfully wedged in the tree, he slowly descended. He jumped when he was low enough to the ground to do so without hurting himself, and looked back up at the open window. "Come on, Lavi!" he called.

The redhead appeared in the window briefly. "Catch," he said, and threw the manuscript down to Allen, who caught it without difficulty. When Allen looked back up at the window, however, Lavi was gone.

"Lavi?" he called uncertainly.

There was a shout, followed by a resounding crash.

"LAVI!" Allen screamed.

And Lavi _flew_ out of the window, catching the closest branch and clinging to it desperately. "The power of Christ compels you!" he roared, as he began his hasty descent. "The power of Christ compels you!"

"What?" Allen said, frowning, but Lavi hit the ground running and seized his wrist as he passed. Allen was, once again, dragged along in the frantic redhead's wake. They sprinted around the side of the house and hit the sidewalk at a dead run, nearly bowling over a young couple out on a romantic evening walk.

"Watch where you're going!" the man yelled. The woman stared after them in shock.

Allen began to apologize, but Lavi cut him off. "No time for niceties, neighbor," he wheezed.

They blew past Daisya's house, where he sat on the porch waiting for them.

"Hey, why are you guys running? What happen—"

"We'll tell you later!" Lavi yelled, not slowing down. They tore down the sidewalk back to their own neighborhood until they finally reached Lavi's house. They flung open the front door and dashed into the living room, startling Kanda and causing him to drop his homework on the floor.

"What the hell are you two doing?" he growled.

They ignored him, flinging themselves down on the couch and panting heavily.

Kanda huffed, scowl deepening with every second he remained ignored. "Hey. I asked you idiots a question."

"Yu!" Lavi gasped. "Oh, God…Yu, we… We almost died!"

Kanda just stared at him, clearly unimpressed.

"We were in this house, right?" Lavi began, sitting up as he finally caught his breath. "And we were looking for this thing, okay? But the whole time we were there, there was this shuffling noise, and then there were all of these creaking noises, and then the bathtub was possessed." He paused. "Probably."

"That makes absolutely no sense," Kanda scoffed. "Ghosts aren't real, morons. I can't believe you were scared of some stupid little noises. And the _bathtub_."

"You weren't there," Allen said, finally able to breathe again. "You would have been scared too."

"The only things I'm scared of," Kanda began, standing up and gathering his things. "Are your special brands of stupidity and cowardice rubbing off on me. I'm leaving."

"Woulda been nice to have you there, though," Lavi said, rubbing his chin. "Next time we go on an adventure, you're coming too, okay?"

"No!" Allen and Kanda said together. They glared at each other.

"Hey look! See? You two get along better than you think!" Lavi grinned, pleased.

"As if I would get along with that pony-tailed jerk!" Allen said, pointing at Kanda in disgust.

"Che. Like I want to even look at your stupid _face_, beansprout." And before Allen could even open his mouth to retort, the Japanese boy swept angrily from the room.

"He's just jealous that we had an adventure and he didn't get to come," Lavi said, patting Allen's shoulder.

"An adventure? Is that what that was? I'm pretty sure that was a near-death experience," Allen retorted, holding a hand over his heart. "Next time you come over to my house with an idea for an 'adventure,' I'm locking the door."

"Mean!" Lavi whined. "I saved your life!"

"You did not."

"Yes I did! Dude, I fought a ghost for you!"

"You did _not_ fight a ghost," Allen said, rolling his eyes.

"Did you not hear the epic battle?" Lavi said indignantly. "I had it on the ropes."

"I heard you yelling, and then a crash that sounded like maybe you'd fallen over," Allen said, pretending he hadn't been frantic for Lavi's safety. "Then you jumped out the window and did some more yelling. Which, by the way? Was weird. 'The power of Christ compels you'? What do you think you are, an exorcist?"

"Hey, I could be," Lavi insisted with a grin.

"Uh huh," Allen said, unconvinced.

"So!" Lavi said brightly, turning to him with an air of intense excitement. "Give me the envelope, man! We almost got, like, possessed or whatever in our quest for this, so we need to enjoy the spoils of our spiritual war!"

"You're so weird," Allen sighed, handing over the manuscript.

"I'll take that as a compliment." The redhead tore open the manila envelope with trembling fingers and pulled out a thick stack of papers. He scanned them eagerly, flipping through them quickly. Allen watched in confusion as his friend's expression slowly morphed from gleeful to puzzled. "What the hell is this shit?"

"What?" Allen asked, scooting closer and reading the paper over Lavi's shoulder. "Let Them Eat Cake," he read aloud. "Three cups cake flour, sifted, two teaspoons baking powder, one and one fourth cup sugar…What?"

"This is a cookbook," Lavi said dumbly.

"A cookbook."

"Yeah. A cookbook that seems to be playing off of significant events in history. Like, here's 'Napolean' Napolean," Lavi said, flipping to another page and showing Allen a recipe for the pastry dessert. "It uses grapes and cream cheese, which this author seems to think makes it French."

"That's…really wrong," Allen said, dumbfounded.

"Here's 'Titanic' Punch," Lavi said, showing the white-haired boy another page. "Apparently, it's just regular fruit punch, but then you put a huge chunk of ice in the bowl and float a toy boat in it."

"That seems unsanitary," Allen said, wrinkling his nose. "So what's up with "Let Them Eat Cake', uh, cake?"

"Supposedly—and this was just before the French Revolution—when Marie Antoinette was informed that French peasants had no bread to eat, her reply was 'let them eat cake,' which was callous and snobby because, you know. If peasants can't afford bread, they sure as hell can't afford cake."

"Huh," Allen said, looking at the recipe again. "That's actually kind of clever."

"No it isn't!" Lavi said vehemently. "That quote was falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette. She never even said it! This book would have continued to propagate inaccurate stories as historical fact!"

"Oh," Allen said. He remained quiet for a moment while Lavi glared at the stack of papers as if they had personally offended him. And in a way, Allen supposed, they had.

Finally, Lavi sighed and looked up at Allen with a sardonic grin. "So, we scared the shit out of ourselves and risked our lives jumping out of a second story window for a historically inaccurate cookbook."

"That would seem t be the case," Allen said lightly.

Lavi sighed again and laid his head on Allen's shoulder dejectedly. "Son of a bitch."

Allen chuckled quietly and flicked Lavi's forehead. "This is what you get for listening to Daisya Barry."

"Daisya!" Lavi gasped, sitting bolt upright. "I bet it was him creeping around the house and trying to scare us!"

"But we saw him on his porch when we were running away, there's no way he could have—"

"Oh, he thinks he's so clever," Lavi interrupted, standing and glowering. "We'll see how clever he is after I kick his ass."

"That doesn't even make—"

"Come on, beansprout," Lavi said, grabbing Allen in a headlock and dragging him toward the front door. "We're going to go pay our friend Daisya a little visit."

And Allen simply sighed, allowing himself to be hauled off on the incomparable Lavi Bookman's misguided mission for vengeance.

* * *

He he he. It's up to you whether you want to believe the house was actually haunted or not or if Lavi and Allen were just being spazzes. Next chapter: the return of Tyki Mikk! Dun dun DUN! Also, Halloween ridiculousness. Seeya next Saturday!


	12. Halloween

Okay. So. Where I am, it's about 1:30. Which _technically _makes it Sunday. But it's close enough to Saturday, right? Right!

I don't have much to say about this chapter, except that it's probably too long. And I'm not convinced it's very funny. And I didn't edit it as well as I should (like I said 1:30 AM!) so there may be a few typos. I'm sorry about that! But I didn't want to not publish and be a dirty liar to my lovely readers! So. We have this.

Speaking of lovely readers, I want to thank you all once again! Especially those of you who review, because you all know how much I value your feedback! Yay!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

Allen pulled his jeep into a parking space next to the "cart corral" and shifted into park.

"_That_," he said smugly, "is how you drive well."

"I drive well!" Lavi protested from the passenger seat.

"You drive like a maniac," Allen reminded him, as he opened the door and hopped out onto the asphalt.

"I drive with style," Lavi amended, climbing out of the passenger seat and jogging to catch up with his shorter friend as they crossed the parking lot. "You drive like you're ninety."

"You'd better lay off of my driving skills, or else I won't let you come to the grocery store with me ever again," Allen said. The automatic doors swished open for them and he grabbed a gray metal cart before continuing into the store.

"Yeah, yeah," Lavi said, grinning. "Thanks for this, by the way. Whenever Lenalee's with me she always makes me buy weird organic shit, Yu straight up refuses to set foot in this place, and I hate coming here all by myself. Nice to have a buddy along!"

"Uh huh," Allen said distractedly, pulling his list from his pocket and scrutinizing it.

"Dude, you made a list?" Lavi asked incredulously. He snatched it from Allen's hand and frowned at it.

"Give that back!" Allen demanded, grabbing for it.

"Uh-uh," Lavi said childishly, holding the paper high above his head and out of Allen's reach. "Come on beansprout, jump for it!"

Allen gave his most angelic smile and kicked him in the shin.

"Shit!" Lavi hissed, dropping the list in order to clutch at his leg. "That was low, dude."

"But it worked, didn't it?" Allen pointed out. He bent down and grabbed the fallen list, then straightened and pushed his cart toward the produce section—smiling all the while.

"You're evil," Lavi decided as he hobbled after him.

Allen just hummed. He picked up two red peppers, one in each hand, and examined them closely.

"Peppers are gross," Lavi said from where he was leaning against the display.

"I like them," Allen said.

"You would," Lavi grumbled, still pouting over Allen's earlier act of violence against his shin.

Allen covered his mouth to hide his smile. "Why don't you look for some food for yourself, hmm?"

"Yeah, I don't really eat vegetables," Lavi admitted sheepishly. "Could you hurry it up a bit maybe, Mr. Health-Conscious?"

"I'm going to be here for a while, Lavi," Allen informed him. He ripped a plastic bag from the dispenser to his left and slid both of the peppers inside. "Just go to another aisle and get the kind of food you like to eat."

"All by myself?" Lavi said, looking a bit pathetic.

"Are you afraid you'll get lost?" Allen said, smirking.

"Shut up," Lavi said. He stuck his tongue out and pouted some more, looking like a three year old.

"Baby," Allen snickered.

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me 'baby'?" he wondered, a sardonic smile on his face. "Allen, I didn't know you were into me that—"

"Don't be an idiot," Allen snapped.

Lavi cackled. "You're so easy to tease!"

Allen huffed and pushed his cart toward the lettuce. "I think that has more to do with you being annoying than anything."

"Burn!" Lavi said, galloping after him. "You sure haven't been very nice to me lately, Allen."

"What are you talking about? I'm always nice to you."

"Yeah, well, when I first met you, you were all polite and 'oh, I am _terribly _sorry, allow me to assist you with that'," Lavi continued, mimicking Allen's voice. "But now you're all blunt and sarcastic and telling me I'm dumb and junk like that."

"What's your point?" Allen asked, dropping head of lettuce into the cart and moving toward the cucumbers.

"Where did the politeness go? I mean, I can't say I'm not totally glad to see it gone, because it really kind of freaked me out."

"Then why are you complaining about it?"

"I'm just curious is all," Lavi explained.

"I don't know. I mean, I'm polite at first with people I've just met, but when I get to know a person and I get more comfortable with them, I can be more relaxed and act like myself."

"So, you feel comfortable and relaxed around me?" Lavi said, looking very pleased.

"Of course," Allen said truthfully. "It's hard not to. Though you have a rather _manic_ personality, you make it easy for people to loosen up in your presence. I mean, I think so anyway."

"Aww!" Lavi said, his vibrant green eye shining. "That's so cute, Allen!"

"What?" Allen said, startled. "I wasn't trying to be _cute_."

"But you still were!" Lavi declared, bounding forward and enveloping the shorter boy in an enthusiastic hug. "I feel like I can relax around you too!"

"Lavi, get off of me," Allen said, pushing frantically at his chest. "We are in public!"

"Are you embarrassed?" Lavi asked, as he rubbed his cheek against Allen's hair.

"Yes!" Allen hissed, face flushed scarlet. "You really do need to learn how to keep your hands to yourself."

Lavi pulled back and regarded him, his head cocked slightly to the right. "You don't like hugs?"

"Not from you," Allen snapped.

"Aww, yes you do!" Lavi said, ruffling his hair. "_Everybody _like hugs from me."

"I'm not one of your crazed fans," Allen reminded him. "Also, I'm not a girl. Which is something you seem to keep forgetting."

"It's not my fault you're all pretty like one," Lavi said nonchalantly.

Allen stared at him, stunned. "P-pretty?"

"Yeah!" Lavi said, clearly enjoying the look on Allen's face. "Your hair's all silky, your skin is all creamy and pale, and your eyes—"

"Cut it out right now," Allen commanded, turning toward the stand holding the carrots to hide his blush. "You're really starting to creep me out."

"Like I said, _way_ too easy to tease," Lavi chuckled.

Allen just sighed heavily and continued attempting to select vegetables. He was weighing a bag of artichokes when Lavi started whining again.

"Allen, vegetables are so damn boring!"

"You don't have to be here, Lavi," Allen reminded him. "Go find your own food."

"I think I will," the redhead said thoughtfully. "'Kay, I'll be over by the cereal. I'll find you later!"

Allen waved as Lavi wandered off toward the cereal aisle and turned his attention back to his artichokes. After he was finished with them, he decided on a bag of carrots, selected an eggplant, and grabbed a small sack of potatoes. He pushed his cart toward the fruit and began the arduous process of settling on which apples to buy.

"Well, well," a familiar voice purred. "If it isn't Lavi's little white-haired boy."

Allen looked up from the Red Delicious he was inspecting and into the strange golden eyes of Tyki Mikk. "Oh, hello," Allen said cautiously.

"No need to be afraid of me, boy." He adjusted his basket, which was full of packages of different types of filleted fish, and smirked.

"I'm not afraid of you," Allen said, looking back at the apples.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it has," Allen agreed. Tyki had been conspicuously absent for almost a month, ever since his unwelcome appearance at Lenalee's celebration party. Lavi was hopeful that the man had finally decided to give up and move on.

"Family business," Tyki explained. "You know how it is."

Allen didn't, actually, having no family of his own to speak of—save Cross—and Allen didn't like to think of his crazed Godfather in those terms if he could avoid it. Still, he nodded just to be polite.

"But I'm back now," Tyki continued. "How's Lavi been?"

"Fine," Allen said, glancing at the older boy out of the corner of his eye.

"I'd say he's fine all right," Tyki chuckled. Allen silently cursed his poor choice of words. "What about you?"

Allen frowned. "'What about me' what?"

"How have _you_ been, boy?"

"All right," Allen said slowly.

"That's good." He stood there for a moment as if he was waiting for something. When Allen continued to ignore him in favor of the apples, he sighed. "Now it's your turn."

"My turn for what?" Allen wanted to know.

"Your turn to ask me how I've been."

Allen stared at him.

"You do speak English, don't you, boy?" Tyki asked. He placed his basket on the floor and moved a couple of steps closer.

"Yes," Allen said, trying to back away and finding that he was blocked by a display of citrus fruits.

"My, my, you're not a very engaging conversationalist," Tyki tsked. However, he didn't look at all put out. In fact, he was smirking like he found the whole situation vastly amusing.

Meanwhile, Allen was quickly becoming uncomfortable with Tyki's closeness. It wasn't the same awkwardness he felt when Lavi got too close—that feeling was heady and warm and Allen was still trying to sort out what that implied. His proximity to Tyki just made him feel nervous and a little queasy.

"Um…" he said weakly.

Tyki chuckled, sidling even closer. "I can see why Lavi is so fond of you," he confided. "You're quite adorable."

"Um," Allen said again, completely at a loss as to how to handle this situation.

"Dude, are you still over here? How long does it take to look at produce? Carrots and shit aren't that exciting, I mean seri—"

Allen's head snapped to the left. Lavi was standing there, clutching a box of Lucky Charms and six frozen pizzas. His single green eye was wide with surprise, but when Allen gave him a desperate, pleading look, it narrowed dangerously.

"Lavi!" Tyki exclaimed, straightening up from where he'd been towering over a very confused Allen. "It's been too long!"

"More like not long enough," Lavi growled. Allen blinked, surprised. Lavi wasn't the type of person who _growled_.

"Oh, now, don't be that way," Tyki said, holding a hand over his heart. "You wound me."

"Leave Allen alone," Lavi continued, in that same tone—it promised pain and suffering to all who disobeyed him.

"Oh?" Tyki said, grinning sadistically. "Don't tell me you're jealous?" And then he horrified everyone around him by snaking his arm around Allen's waist.

Allen's face flushed immediately and he began to fidget. He tried to extricate himself from the tall boy's grip but he was pinned to Tyki's side. The boy in question was still grinning at Lavi, who looked murderous.

"Let. Him. Go," Lavi ordered.

"Oh yes, definitely jealous." Tyki pulled Allen closer, eliciting a startled squeak from the white-haired boy.

Lavi dropped his food on the ground, took three long strides forward, and clocked Tyki on the chin. The wavy-haired boy stumbled backward into the citrus display; tangerines and limes rained down on his head.

"Come on, Allen," Lavi said, grasping the still-stunned boy's wrist and dragging him toward the front of the store. "We'll come back later, when it's safer."

"So protective," Tyki chuckled after them. "It's one of the many things I like about you, Lavi." Allen glanced back at the man, who had already picked himself up off of the floor and was now doing the same to his shopping basket. When he caught Allen's eye, he winked. Allen looked away quickly.

Lavi just growled again, low in his throat.

When they reached Allen's Jeep, he fumbled a bit trying to pull the keys out of his pocket. Once they were in his hand, Lavi snatched them away and ordered him to climb into the passenger seat.

"But—" Allen tried to protest. Lavi just gave him a _look_ and Allen quietly acquiesced.

Once both boys were in the car, Lavi started it up and pulled out of the lot. To Allen's surprise, he was driving carefully instead of weaving about like a NASCAR driver.

"Who does that guy think he is?" Lavi hissed, actually flicking on the right-turn signal as they waited at a red light.

"That _was_ a little weird," Allen agreed.

Lavi turned to look at him and Allen was shocked to see that the emotion in his eye wasn't anger, but guilt. "I'm sorry, little buddy. I shouldn't have left you all alone like that."

"It's not your fault, Lavi," Allen said, frowning. "You can't blame yourself for Mikk appearing out of nowhere."

"Still."

"I wonder what he was trying to do?" Allen wondered aloud.

"What did he say to you?"

"He told me he hasn't been around a lot lately because of family reasons, and then asked me how you've been and how I've been."

"He wanted to know how you've been?" Lavi said sharply.

"Yeah. Then he tried to get me to ask him how he's been, but I didn't—"

"Good," Lavi interjected.

"Yeah. And then he told me I wasn't a good conversationalist and that he…" Allen trailed off awkwardly.

"What?" Lavi demanded, getting panicky. "What did he do?"

"He told me he could see why you liked me, because I'm…adorable… That's when you showed up."

Lavi took his eyes off the road to stare at his younger friend. "He didn't kiss you or anything?"

"Wh-what? NO!"

Lavi sighed in relief.

"He does that?" Allen said, scandalized.

Lavi just looked at him.

"He's done that to _you_?"

"I'm just glad he didn't do it to you. I'd feel terrible. I mean, I'm the reason he even knows about you."

"You really need to stop blaming yourself," Allen said.

Lavi pulled into the narrow alley that led to Allen's garage, then hit the button on the garage door opener and pulled into the garage itself. He shifted the Jeep into park, turned the car off, and pulled the keys from the ignition. Only then did he turn to look at Allen, who tilted his head in question.

"Sorry," he said softly.

"There's no need to be," Allen said warmly. "You don't need to be so protective of me, Lavi. I mean, I appreciate the way you got Mikk to let go of me, though I do think punching him may have been a bit extreme."

"He deserved it," Lavi insisted, scowling.

"Yes, well, be that as it may," Allen said. "I know I'm not the biggest or strongest guy around, but I can take care of myself. Really! So don't think of me as some pathetic wimp, okay?"

"I don't think you're pathetic!" Lavi exclaimed.

"Then why are you always acting like you need to keep me safe from everything? You were acting like this earlier, too!" Allen reminded him, referring to the _Haunted History House Caper_, as the redhead had taken to calling that whole debacle.

Lavi regarded him silently for a while, the expression in his eye unreadable. He opened his mouth to say something, frowned, and closed it again.

"Lavi?" Allen said, concerned.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. You know, you're totally right, Allen. I need to stop acting like such a protective, you know… Big brother."

"Big brother?"

"Sure," Lavi said softly, sliding out of the driver's seat. "Come on. We still don't have any food to eat, so why don't we order a pizza!"

"We always order pizza," Allen grouched. "I want Chinese."

Lavi laughed heartily. "Chinese it is."

* * *

They'd gone back to the grocery store the next day, due mostly to Allen's almost constantly growling stomach. And even though Lavi had promised to stop being so protective, he spent the entirety of the trip prowling around the store looking for "signs of potential danger," as he called it. Allen just smiled fondly and took his time getting everything on his list.

While Allen found Lavi's antics amusing, the majority of the store's other patrons were less than impressed. Allen decided he'd best hurry up the process of selecting food when the manager came out of his office to ask the redhead if there was some sort of problem he could help him with.

When they finally got back to their neighborhood, Lavi took his groceries home, then came back to Allen's house to help him put away his purchases. This consisted mostly of Lavi drinking pop and eating Allen's recently purchased potato chips while sitting at Allen's kitchen table as Allen did all of the actual work.

"Hey beansprout," Lavi said, as he dug noisily in the bag of chips.

"Name's Allen, stupid Lavi," Allen replied easily. "But yes? What is it?"

"Guess what's coming up soon?"

"Umm," Allen said, pausing in the act of stacking several cans of soup. "Your birthday?"

"Nope, already had my B-day," Lavi replied. "August tenth, just so you know. Too bad you weren't here for that. I turned the big 2-1. It was _epic_."

"I'm sure."

"But no, dude, seriously. It's Halloween in like, a week and a half! You know what that means, right?"

"We have to have a party?" Allen said dully. Honestly, he was getting quite sick of the whole party scene. Not that he went to any parties other than the ones held at Lavi's house, but he really had no opportunity to. The rambunctious redhead held a party at his place nearly every weekend.

"Don't sound so excited," Lavi said, rolling his eye. "It'll be great! Halloween parties are always the shit!"

"But we have costume parties all the time," Allen reminded him. "Sort of makes the whole Halloween, everyone's-in-costume idea seem tired."

"But Halloween is great! You get to decorate with a bunch of creepy stuff, and then you get to scare the shit out of everyone. Plus! Trick-or-treating!"

"You're 21 years old and you still go trick-or-treating?" Allen said in disbelief.

"What? No! Though I wish I could. People frown that that sort of thing around here. It's pretty lame."

"Since when do you care what people around here think?"

"Anyway! I like to give candy to the trick-or-treaters. They always come before the party starts anyway, so we can give them candy and see them in their adorable costumes!"

"Adorable costumes?" Allen said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know you liked kids, Lavi."

"Of course I do! They're so awesome. Last year I went as Spiderman, okay? It was a great costume, by the way. I looked so badass. And this little kid was Captain America and he wanted me to 'join the Avengers and go on missions with him' and it was the cutest thing in the world. I have a picture of us together in my house somewhere."

Allen smiled. "That sounds just like you."

"Right? Okay, so, we should start getting into planning-mode. We'll have to go to Party City and get some decorations. We'll have to go on a day Chomesuke is working, too," he added, grimacing.

"What? You _want_ to be in the same general vicinity as Chomesuke?" The girl hadn't halted in her stalking of Lavi, and more often than not Allen would find her in his bushes when he came home from school. He would just say a quiet "good afternoon, Miss Chomesuke," and continue on his way. The white-haired boy was a bit concerned that he was getting used to having terrifying stalkers lurking on his property, but such was life with Lavi.

"Normally I'd be all 'hell no!'" Lavi assured him. "But we're gonna need a _lot_ of decorations, and Chomesuke will give us a discount if I ask her to."

"She'd probably give everything to us for free," Allen mumbled.

Lavi leaned back in his chair, pensive. "You know what, buddy? I think that's a good idea. I bet I could swing that."

Allen glanced back that the smirking redhead. "I don't think I want to know how you're planning on 'swinging that.'"

Lavi just waggled his eyebrows and smirked harder.

The next day, Lavi, Lenalee, and a very pissed off Kanda were packed into Allen's Jeep and headed toward the party store. Lavi was driving again, much to Allen's chagrin.

"Even when we take my car, you _still_ get to drive," Allen groused. "Watch out!"

Lavi was back to his crazed driving behavior. He cackled madly as Lenalee clutched onto Allen's headrest and shouted "slow down you psycho!"

"Come on, Lena. Nobody likes a backseat driver," Lavi chided.

"Rabbit," Kanda seethed. "If you don't slow down and stop pissing me off, I will kill you. I really will. I know where you sleep."

"Don't be like that, Yu!" Lavi whined.

"Why the hell am I even here?" Kanda demanded.

"Because we're having a bonding experience," Lenalee explained, pouting a little. "Don't complain about hanging out with us, Kanda. It hurts my feelings."

Kanda just sat back in his seat and grumbled. Allen saw Lavi catch the girl's eye in the rearview mirror and they shared a secret grin. He had to wonder if Kanda even realized he was being played. He glanced at the long-haired boy as he glared out the window at the passing scenery.

_Probably not,_ Allen decided.

The shopping trip was really more fun than Allen had expected. Lavi ran around the store like a kid on, well, _Halloween_, picking out cardboard cutouts of mummies and skeletons and depositing them all in the cart Kanda had somehow been stuck pushing. Lenalee and Allen agonized over lighting, finally deciding on some string lights that had pumpkins and bats on them. Lavi decided they needed a huge plastic cauldron to serve candy out of, then started babbling about dry-ice and fog machines. Lenalee and Allen just shook their heads and dug through a large bin of discount tablecloths. Lavi found a stand full of plastic weapons, and he grabbed a scythe and took to whacking Kanda with it to punctuate his run-on sentences. At this point, the Japanese boy had had enough.

"So then I thought," Lavi said, twirling his scythe and using the end of the pole to whack Kanda on the ass. "What if we got a whole bunch of silly string and—"

"Rabbit!" Kanda roared, tearing the "weapon" from the excited redhead's hands. "I am going to kill you now. This isn't very sharp, but I'll be damned if I can't make it work."

"Eep!" Lavi squeaked, then took off to find somewhere to hide with Kanda close on his heels.

"Do you think he'll be all right?" Chomesuke asked, worried.

Lenalee looked up from the giant fake rubber tarantula she'd been considering. "What happened?"

"Kanda is trying to kill Lavi," Chomesuke said tearfully. "You didn't hear them?"

"It's normal for us, so we don't even really notice it anymore," Allen said, poking the spider in Lenalee's hands and laughing. "That's interesting, Lenalee."

"Isn't it?" the Chinese girl giggled, tossing it into the cart Kanda had abandoned in favor of his murder attempt.

"Wow," Chomesuke said softly. "Lavi must be really strong if he can fight off a vicious brute like that Kanda person."

Allen and Lenalee looked at each other and burst out laughing. "A vicious brute?" Allen repeated, wiping a tear from his eye. "Ah, thank you for that, Miss Chomesuke. I now have something new to call him."

"Vicious brute," Lenalee muttered, giggling. "Classic."

Lavi had somehow persuaded Kanda not to kill him (Allen thought it had a lot to do with Lenalee hitting the irate Japanese boy in the head with a package of paper plates and telling his to knock it off) and was now trying to manipulate Chomesuke into giving them the ridiculously large amount of merchandise they'd piled into their cart for free.

He didn't have a very difficult time of it.

"You're despicable," Allen chastised him as he piled yet another plastic bag into the back of his Jeep.

"What?" Lavi said innocently, though his bright green eye sparkled with mirth.

"That really was pretty scummy of you, Lavi," Lenalee frowned.

"She seemed to like it," Lavi said, leering a bit.

Lavi had gone into full-blown player mode the second Chomesuke had told them their total (which was more than two hundred dollars). Allen hadn't seen anyone this disgustingly suave since his Godfather, and the white-haired boy was shaken to the core by the similarities he saw in Lavi's flirtatious mannerisms. If he hadn't already known that Lavi's parents had died when he was young, he would have suspected the redhead of being Cross' illegitimate son.

Allen was sure there were many of those floating around.

Chomesuke, for her part, hadn't put up any sort of fight. She seemed to melt before Allen's eyes, and she gave Lavi everything he asked for.

"She's probably even more in love with you now than she was before," Lenalee pointed out.

"Great," Allen huffed. "She spends the majority of her time in my bushes, anyway. Now she'll probably pitch a tent and camp out."

"Do you think she'll make s'mores?" Lavi asked, excited. "I love those things! Oh! We should make those at the party!"

Allen just looked at Lenalee, exasperated. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a compassionate smile.

"You're an idiot," Kanda informed the one-eyed boy, yanking the back door open violently and climbing into the Jeep. "Come on, let's go. This shit is way more 'bonding' than I can stand."

* * *

"Costumes. We need some," Lavi stated seriously, striding into Allen's bedroom.

Allen, who had been in the process of sorting through his clothes to put them in the wash, started badly. "Lavi! How the hell did you get into my house?"

"Oh, I have a key!" Lavi said, holding it up proudly.

Allen squinted and realized that it was, in fact, his extra house key. It was attached to a keychain that had a small red bunny on it. "Where did you get that?"

"It was in your junk drawer. You weren't using it, so I figured I'd just take it. You don't mind, do ya?"

Allen sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I suppose not," he said tightly.

"Great!" Lavi flopped onto Allen's bed, upsetting the careful piles of laundry he'd spent the last twenty minutes organizing. "So, do you have any idea for costumes? I thought maybe we could coordinate."

"What? Coordinate?"

"Yeah, you know. We should have a theme!"

"We always have themes. I was kind of hoping you'd let me pick my own costume for once."

"What did you want to go as?" Lavi said curiously.

"I don't know—I haven't decided yet," Allen admitted.

"We should decide together!" Lavi enthused.

"All right," Allen conceded.

"Sweet," Lavi said, grinning his signature grin.

Allen felt his annoyance slipping away as he let the redhead's strange calming energy wash over him. "So," he said, his voice gentler. "What do you propose?"

"Hmm. Well, Lenalee is going to be a fairy princess, 'cause she found these _ridiculous_ fairy wings in the prop room and the director said she could use them."

Allen smiled. "She'll make a good princess."

"She's already a princess," Lavi said fondly.

Allen made a noise of agreement. "Is Kanda actually going to dress up?"

"Hell no!" Lavi chuckled. "We're lucky he's actually going to _come_ to the damn thing."

"I'd feel luckier if he _didn't_ come, actually," Allen said, trying to tug a pair of jeans from under Lavi. The redhead refused to move, however, and he quickly gave up.

"Aw, come on, Al! Don't be like that!" Lavi protested. "Yu's actually a great guy! Uh. Deep, _deep_ down. I think…"

"Uh huh," Allen said, unconvinced.

"Well, anyway! We need to focus on _us_."

"Right, our costumes," Allen agreed. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

Except they really didn't. They'd spent the rest of the day sitting around playing video games and had accomplished nothing. They remained relatively unmotivated for the next week. When Halloween rolled around and they were still costume-less, Lavi was in a full-blown panic.

"Neighbor!" he cried dramatically and draped himself over Allen, who was resting on the plaid loveseat in said dramatic redhead's living room. They'd been decorating all morning and Allen's feet were starting to hurt from running up and down the stairs doing Lavi's bidding.

"What is it Lavi?" Allen grunted, unable to muster enough energy to push the older boy off of him.

"It's Halloween and we don't have costumes! That's, like, the most important part of the whole holiday! Besides candy," he added seriously.

"Nothing is better than candy," Allen said.

"True that!" Lavi agreed. "But seriously. Costumes. We're, like, totes screwed."

"Oh well," Allen sighed, letting his eyes slide closed. A nap sounded really good to him at the moment.

"Dude, no sleeping! This is some serious shit!"

"What's wrong?" Lenalee asked, wandering in from where she'd been hanging decorations in the dining room.

"Al and I are totally without costumes, Lena. It's a tragedy!"

"Oh dear," Lenalee said, trying to pretend to be serious and failing miserably. "Whatever will you do?"

"You need to be more supportive of us, Lenalee!" Lavi whimpered. "We're desperate here!"

"I'm not desperate," Allen muttered.

"Yes you are!" Lavi said, whacking him on the shoulder.

"You should be a pirate," Allen told Lavi sleepily. "Miranda gave me the idea at the Under the Sea party. You already have the eye patch and everything."

"Hmm," Lavi hummed. "That's not a bad idea, little buddy. Pirates are sexy; I'm sexy. It's a perfect fit, really."

"Yay," Allen yawned.

"There's a great tri-cornered hat in the prop room I bet I could borrow for you," Lenalee offered.

"I'd need some sort of sword," Lavi said thoughtfully, hopping up off of Allen and starting to pace. "And, like, a pirate-like shirt. And a gun holster!"

"Mmm hmm," Allen agreed, slumping onto his side and curling into a ball.

"I said no sleeping!" Lavi said, trying to sound stern but coming off amused.

"'Kay," Allen breathed.

Allen woke up two hours later when the doorbell rang. He stumbled to the entryway and pulled the door open before he remembered that this wasn't his house.

"Trick or treat!" three little girls chorused. They were all dressed as Hannah Montanna, which Allen was a little disturbed by. But he pasted on a kind smile and said "hello ladies."

"Candy?" the youngest of them queried. Her mother (or so Allen presumed) scolded her for her rudeness, but Allen just chuckled and said it was fine. He looked around for the ridiculously large cauldron he'd helped Lavi fill with candy earlier that day, but he couldn't seem to find it anywhere. He started to think that maybe it was still in the kitchen when he was roughly shouldered out of the way.

"Right here, little ladies," Lavi said, beaming. Allen noticed that the redhead was already in his costume, which, of course, looked great on him. His wore a white dress shirt that was a little too large for him that hung loose and un-tucked from his coarse brown pants. He wore knee-high brown leather boots and the tri-cornered hat Lenalee had previously mentioned sat jauntily on his bright red hair. He held the cauldron out to the girls and tried to wink. "What's Halloween without candy, right?"

The two older girls nodded shyly and ducked their heads, but the youngest stuck her whole arm into the candy and began digging fiercely. Her mother tried to admonish her again, but Lavi just threw his head back and laughed.

"Don't worry about it, ma'am," Lavi said, smiling charmingly at the woman. Allen rolled his eyes as the she blushed and began patting her hair to make sure it was in place.

"Well, aren't you a sweet boy," she said a little breathlessly. "All right, well, come along girls."

The little girls thanked them and Lavi waved them off, still grinning. He closed the door and set the bucket of candy next to it. "Have a nice nap, sprout?"

"It's Allen," Allen sniffed. "And it was wonderful."

"I'm glad," Lavi said. "Like my costume?" He held his arms out and did a little twirl.

"It looks very good on you," Allen said honestly.

"Aww!" Lavi said, ruffling Allen's hair like he always did. "Thanks pal! But we'd better get you into your costume, yeah?"

Allen frowned. "My costume?"

"Yeah! You looked pretty tired, so I figured I'd just let you sleep. So I looted the prop room and got you something to match me. Aren't I amazing?"

"Uh. Sure."

Lavi laughed and pushed him toward the stairs. "It's in my room. Go put it on! I'm the captain and you're my first mate, okay?"

Allen shook his head fondly and climbed the stairs. "Okay."

"Awesome," Allen heard Lavi say. The doorbell rang again, and the redhead greeted the next batch of trick-or-treaters animatedly.

* * *

The party itself was pretty standard, as Allen had expected. Lavi spent most of his time running around entertaining his guests and flirting with the many scantily clad girls who hung on his every word. The only real difference was the sheer volume of people. Whereas all of the previous parties had been invite-only, this one was open to pretty much the entirety of the student body.

And as Allen shoved his way through the crowd he thought that maybe the entire campus had shown up.

"Allen!" a familiar voice called. Arystar Krory was waving to him from the far corner of the living room. Daisya Barry sat there with him, the black eye Lavi had given him for the _Haunted History House Caper_ now faded to a barely noticeable yellow-green.

"Hello gentlemen," Allen greeted, squeezing in next to them. "How are you this evening?"

"Just fine," Krory answered politely. He was dressed as Dracula. A fitting choice, Allen decided. The high-collared cape looked right at home around his shoulders.

"Lotta people here," Daisya groused, swaying a bit. He was dressed as a court jester (of course) and was already drunk—and the party had only started half an hour ago. Allen just shook his head and chuckled.

"We were thinking that maybe you could teach us how to play," Krory said timidly, holding up a deck of cards.

"Poker?" Allen asked, eyes shining with hope. "But of course!"

Hours later, Daisya was passed out, snoring, on the couch with an unidentified girl slumped over him. The majority of the guests had gone, and those who remained had joined the poker game. Lenalee and Miranda were playing a hand together, whispering loudly about which cards to discard. Even Kanda had joined in, though he spent the majority of the time accusing Allen of cheating (which, admittedly, he was).

"Looks like I win again!" Allen said triumphantly, showing everyone his hand.

"Bullshit!" Kanda growled for the umpteenth time that night. "You are such a dirty little _cheater_, stupid beansprout."

"My name is Allen, jerk," Allen said amiably. "Though I'm not surprised you can't remember it. I honestly don't think your brain has the capacity to remember more than one thing at a time."

Kanda glowered and began to make for Allen, but Lenalee stuck her leg out and planted her foot in the middle of Kanda's chest. He blinked at it, confused.

"Leave Allen alone, Kanda," she said, a bit too loudly. "Allen, could you go get us some water? We'd like to try a game by ourselves to see how we do."

"Of course," Allen said, standing up and smirking at Kanda. The Japanese boy just scoffed and looked away.

Allen made his way into the kitchen, humming to himself. He stopped short when he saw Lavi leaning over the sink, back to him.

"Lavi?" Allen asked cautiously. He hadn't seen the redhead in hours, since he'd tried to join the game and gotten frustrated by Allen's winning streak before disappearing somewhere with a girl dressed like a nurse.

The redhead turned to face Allen and blinked slowly. An empty glass bottle hung limply in his right hand and Allen secretly hoped his friend hadn't drunk that whole thing himself.

"Allen?" Lavi said softly. His shirt had come unbuttoned and hung open, exposing his chest. The pirate hat he'd been so fond of earlier still sat on his head, though it was looking a little worse for wear. All in all, Lavi looked rather bedraggled.

"Are you all right?" Allen asked in concern, moving toward his redheaded friend. He tugged the bottle out of Lavi's unresisting hands and scrutinized the label.

_Bombay Sapphire_, Allen mused to himself. _That's gin, isn't it? I think there's something important I'm supposed to remember about Lavi and gin…_

"Allen," Lavi sighed. He reached out and cupped the shorter boy's face with his right hand and stroked his cheek with his thumb.

"L-Lavi, what are you d-doing?" Allen stammered, gray eyes wide.

_Oh wait, now I remember…_

"Allen," Lavi said again, bringing his left hand up so that he was cradling Allen's face in both of his hands. "D'ya like me, Allen?"

"Wha—"

"'Cause, y'know. Really like you, Allen," Lavi whispered drunkenly. His normally bright green eye was dull and bloodshot, but his smile was still as warm and charming as ever. "Like you a lot."

"Um," Allen said, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his ears. "I-I-I guess I…"

Lavi chuckled breathily and leaned his forehead against Allen's. "Yer cute."

Allen could feel his face burn and knew he was flushing crimson all the way down his neck.

_Lavi said that gin makes him flirty, but I've never seen him flirt like _this_…_ Allen thought distantly.

Lavi tilted Allen's face higher and he could feel the redhead's warm breath, which smelled strongly of gin, ghost across his lips.

"Lavi…" Allen said weakly.

"Shhh," Lavi shushed him, green eye sliding closed and tilting his head to the side.

"Allen, are you all right? It's taking you so long I thought—oh!" From the corner of his eye, Allen could see Krory standing awkwardly in the doorway, eyes wide.

Instinctively, Allen shoved Lavi backward with as much force as he could muster. The already tipsy boy stumbled and couldn't keep his feet—he crashed into the trash can and toppled to the floor in a cascade of wrappers and pizza crusts.

Allen stood, frozen, while Krory glanced quickly between the two.

"Wha was tha' fer, Allen?" Lavi whimpered.

"What was that noise?" Lenalee wondered, appearing at Krory's shoulder. "Are you okay, Allen?" When Lenalee made eye contact with him, he snapped out of his stupor.

"It isn't what it looks like!" Allen said quickly.

Lenalee raised an eyebrow. "And what does it supposedly look like, exactly?"

"Looks like I'm onna floor," Lavi slurred from his place on the floor next to the overturned garbage can.

Lenalee noticed him for the first time and sighed. "You're smashed, aren't you?" she asked him.

"Maybe a lil bi'," he admitted, trying to hold his thumb and forefinger an inch apart in the universal gesture for "a little" and failing. He frowned at his hand like it was being uncooperative of its own accord.

The Chinese girl sighed again and moved forward to haul him to his feet. "Come on. Time for bed."

"Don' wanna go by m'self," Lavi mumbled, looking hopefully at Allen. The white-haired boy froze again, the blush he'd only just gotten rid of returning in full force.

Lenalee, who was concentrated on not dropping her drunken friend on his head, didn't notice and must have assumed he was talking to her because she smiled ruefully and said, "Lavi, we've talked about this."

"Do you need any help with him?" Krory asked faintly.

"I got him," Lenalee assured him. "You guys just go back to the game. Don't forget that water, Allen! Miranda is really going to need it, I think." And she dragged an incoherently protesting Lavi out of the room. Krory lingered for a moment, looking at Allen curiously, before he made his way back to the living room.

Allen stood alone in the middle of the kitchen. Slowly, he lifted his right hand to his lips and stared, transfixed, at the place Lavi had been.

* * *

Oh man. What the hell did I just do? Did I just create some drama? I believe I did :) Bwa ha ha!


	13. Avoidance and Contemplation

Howdy!

Okay, so, I know that this all needs to happen for Lavi and Allen to get together and blah blah blah but writing this chapter, I realized that I'm not very good at writing drama and introspection. I like comedy and ridiculousness, and any attempts I make at being serious seem weird to me. So this isn't really my favorite chapter, but it needs to happen so that's why it's happening. I just hope I did an okay job and you guys aren't going to read it and go "What the hell is this shit?" If you do, please let me know!

Also, there are a few text messages in this chapter, but I wrote them out pretty much like standard sentences because text-speak makes absolutely no sense to my brain. When I text people I write full sentences. Sometimes I even use semicolons, though I usually only do that to be annoying. So I hope you aren't thrown out of the story by unrealistic text messages or anything like that.

Once again, thank you to all of my kind reviewers! I'm sorry I left you with a cliffhanger last chapter, but you must understand. I'd been planning that for _months_ and I was just way too excited. I actually adore cliffhangers, both reading them and writing them, so I'm pretty proud of myself that I haven't abused that device in this fic. But anyway, onward!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man

* * *

Allen Walker could feel himself teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

It had been a few days since the…incident…with Lavi at the Halloween party, and he was spending the majority of his time avoiding the redhead at all costs.

Everything Allen thought he knew about his relationship with Lavi had been turned on its head. Now, he could be certain of absolutely _nothing_, save one thing—Lavi didn't remember what had transpired between them that night.

At nine o' clock Sunday morning (the day after the party) Allen's cell phone had beeped, signaling that he had a text message. Unthinkingly, he flipped it open, and then froze when he saw who it was from.

_Hey neighbor! Think I drank too much last night. I don't remember anything that happened after that poker game. You little cheater. But whatevs. Wanna get breakfast? _

Allen had carefully set the phone on his bedside table without replying and buried his face in his pillow. Twenty minutes later the phone beeped again.

_You awake?_

Still, Allen didn't reply. He briefly considered putting the phone on silent but decided against it. He continued to lie there, staring at his bedroom ceiling and doing his best to keep his mind carefully blank. He knew eventually he'd have to deal with all of…this. But right at that moment he just couldn't.

His phone beeped again.

_Hey, you alive over there?_

Allen slid out of bed and padded into the bathroom. It wasn't unusual for Lavi to be so persistent, and Allen usually answered the redhead's texts right away, so it was no wonder he was concerned. But Allen just needed to escape the beeping and those messages that reminded him of…well. He stood under the shower until the hot water ran out, leaning his head against the tiled wall.

It was only after he had finally dressed and towel dried his hair that he chanced to look at his phone again. He had three new messages in his inbox. All of them were from Lavi.

The first:_ I don't mean to bother you or anything, but can you give me some sort of sign you're alive, please?_

Second:_ Are you ignoring me on purpose?_

And finally:_ If you don't respond to me in the next twenty minutes, I'm coming over._

Allen panicked at that. He hastily typed a message telling Lavi he was sick and didn't feel like doing anything that day except sleep. He received an almost instantaneous response.

_Oh, I'm sorry buddy! Didn't mean to wake you up. Need me to come over and make you some soup or something?_

Allen's chest clenched guiltily at that, but he just sent back a reply telling him not to bother. Lavi, however, was undeterred.

_I'm still gonna come check on you later, okay? I've got the key, so don't worry about getting out of bed to let me in or anything. Let me know if you need anything in the meantime._

When Lavi did come over later that evening, Allen locked his bedroom door and refused to open it no matter how much Lavi knocked and demanded for him to open up. The redhead had gone home disgruntled and confused when Allen remained silent and offered him no explanation for doing so.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday passed much the same way. Allen claimed to be sick and wouldn't let Lavi see him. He skipped his history class because he knew Lavi was going to be there. When Lavi texted him the first Monday saying he'd taken notes for him, the white-haired boy simply responded with a _thank you._

Allen knew he was being a complete idiot about the whole thing. Ignoring something didn't make it go away, after all. And if he wanted to forget it had ever happened and continue on with his life, well, no one was stopping him. It's not like Lavi remembered his actions and would try to talk to him about it or anything. If it was what he really wanted, Allen could continue his friendship with Lavi as if nothing had changed.

Except, as Allen had slowly discovered over those three days of avoidance and contemplation, that wasn't what he wanted. Because, like it or not, things _had_ changed between he and Lavi. And the more he thought about it, the more he came to realize that he was closer to the "liking it" than he was to the "not." The idea of liking Lavi as "more than a friend" had been lurking on the fringes of Allen's mind for weeks but now that it was fully brought to the fore, the white-haired boy was left feeling anxious, uncertain, confused, and awkward.

And now it was Thursday, the fourth day of his evasion of the one-eyed boy, and he was deep in thought about this startling and frankly terrifying revelation. He hadn't answered Lavi's question that night—_D'ya like me, Allen?—_not really, anyway. He'd stammered a bit, and he'd blushed a lot, but he hadn't given a definitive answer. Because how could he give Lavi an answer when he couldn't even really answer the question himself?

_Did_ he like Lavi?

"Hey, Walker."

He liked him as a friend, of course. He was, as Lavi constantly pointed out, Allen's _best_ friend. Allen had never really had a best friend before; just people he talked to, said "hi" to in his high school's hallways. Lavi was someone he could open up to, someone he could actually share his feelings with.

"Walker? Hello, Earth to Walker."

Lavi made him feel comfortable, Allen knew. Made him feel safe, too, especially with how protective he was. Not that Allen felt like he needed to be protected—he was a big boy; he could take care of himself. But the fact that someone cared about him to such a degree as to actually worry about him…

"Walker! Pay attention, dammit!"

_But_, he mused to himself, _how I feel isn't the only thing that's relevant here. Even if I _do_ like Lavi, does he really like me? I mean, he wouldn't have said those things to me if it weren't for the gin, right? He obviously flirts with people he doesn't even like when he's drunk. That's how he got Tyki Mikk after him, after all. And why would Lavi be interested in me, of all people? He's the quintessential ladies man, he's constantly talking about how much he likes girls, and I'm just a scrawny little _boy. _Why would he want _me_ when he has all of these girls throwing themselves at him at every—_

Allen's was abruptly shaken from his thoughts when a scientific calculator smacked him in the face.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing the point of impact and glaring at the offending object, which now lay on top of his Biology book. "What was that for?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for, like, five minutes!" huffed Rikei, one of the members of his bio lab group. "What the hell are you thinking about over there? We need to finish this experiment before the end of the hour!"

"Sorry," Allen mumbled sheepishly. He flipped through his lab book and found the page explaining the experiment they were supposed to be completing. Something about cellular respiration, a concept they'd learned in lecture the previous day. The lecture Allen had not paid any attention to, as he'd been absorbed in his own thoughts.

Much like he was now.

"You clearly have something on your mind," Sifu added.

"Are you all right, Allen?" Lo Fa asked. She leaned close to him, her eyes widening behind her large, round glasses.

"I'm fine," Allen insisted, lowering his head on the pretense of reading the instructions for the experiment in order to hide his embarrassment and to avoid their searching gazes. He actually genuinely liked his lab group. He'd heard a lot of other kids complaining about their groups during lecture and he felt fortunate he'd ended up with three science majors who were easy to get along with and who knew what they were doing.

"All right," Sifu said slowly, unconvinced. "Well, why don't you go pick up the slides? We need three of them. And don't forget the cover slips."

"Sure," Allen said, sliding off of his stool. He quickly crossed the room as the three of them began to discuss the experiment.

While he waited in the short line to collect his slides, he let his mind drift back to Lavi. The redhead wasn't stupid. He knew that Allen was purposefully avoiding him, and that the excuse of being sick was just a ruse. Lavi had been standing on his front porch, digging in the mailbox mounted next to his front door, when Allen had come back from his English class the previous day. When he saw him, Lavi had at first looked confused about why Allen was out on the sidewalk when he was supposed to be sick in bed, but he quickly brightened and waved.

"It lives!" he'd called as Allen drew nearer.

Allen stopped short only momentarily before resolutely continuing on his way, but Lavi had noticed. His confusion returned when Allen rushed up the steps and in through his front door without replying. Once he was safely inside, Allen carefully pulled the shade back from his living room window and peeked out to see if Lavi was still there. He was. He was standing stock-still with his right hand still deep in the mailbox, staring at Allen's house with such a hurt and bewildered expression that Allen nearly burst into guilty, frustrated tears.

He knew he was hurting Lavi's feelings by acting this way. He felt terrible about it, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to act normally around his friend so soon after what happened. And then Lavi would notice, and he'd ask him what was wrong, and Allen wouldn't be able to lie to him, not when Lavi was smiling so brightly and his green eye was sparkling with warmth and care and—

Well.

"Allen?"

Allen snapped to attention. "Yes?"

Johnny Gill, the grad student who was the lab instructor for Allen's section, frowned at him in concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, Mr. Gill," Allen assured, flashing a large, fake grin.

"Because you've been standing here for a solid minute, just sort of staring at the floor. The other students are getting impatient."

"Huh?" Allen realized that it was his turn to grab the slides for his group, and that the students in line behind him were glaring at him in irritation.

"Oh, so I have," Allen said, chuckling nervously. He stepped forward, grabbed three slides and cover slips, and then smiled apologetically at the rest of the students in line. "Sorry, everyone."

"Allen, is there something bothering you?" Johnny asked kindly. "You know you can talk to me about it, if you want."

"No thank you, Mr. Gill. I'm fine, really. Just spaced out for a minute there."

Johnny laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Happens to the best of us," he said. Then he bustled off to help a group of boys who couldn't figure out how to turn on their microscope.

Allen brought the slides back to his group and watched as Lo Fa expertly prepared them and Rikei and Sifu inspected them under the scope.

"You sure you're okay, Allen?" Lo Fa inquired, shifting closer to him than was strictly necessary.

"I'm fine, Miss Lo Fa, thank you for asking," Allen lied, smiling winningly. His thoughts immediately slid back to Lavi, so he didn't notice when Lo Fa squeaked, clapped her hands to her cheeks, and blushed madly. Rikei and Sifu spared a glance to shake their heads and roll their eyes at Lo Fa's transparency.

Though his group members were nice people, Allen only saw them for two hours once a week. The four of them never hung out outside of class, and the amount of information Allen knew about the three of them combined could barely fill an index card. Yet they could all very easily tell that something was bothering him.

_Hell,_ Allen thought bitterly, _even Mr. Gill could tell that something's wrong. I need to do something about this. The way I've been handling it is all wrong. I need to try a different approach._

He stared blankly at his group members as they squabbled over definitions and which magnification level they should use to get the best results. An almost overwhelming sense of defeat overcame him and he sighed.

_But what should I do?_

* * *

Allen got an answer to that question later that night. It was not, however, quite the answer he was looking for.

He was once again ensconced in his office, wading through the reading for his history class and wishing he could pluck up the courage to ask Lavi for the notes he'd taken for him, when he heard his front door open. He tensed, figuring it was Lavi come again to knock on his door and plead with him to open up and tell him what was wrong—something the redhead had very recently taken to doing every few hours or so. He heard footsteps on the stairs and leading up to his office door. Then silence.

Then _wham._

His office door was kicked inward with so much force the wood along the doorframe cracked and splintered. The door itself slammed into the wall. Allen wondered briefly if the doorknob had punched a hole through the drywall, but then turned his attention to the person who had caused the destruction. He thought it might come to this. Lavi, he could tell, was becoming increasingly annoyed with the fact that Allen was blatantly ignoring him. Any reasonable person would lose their temper eventually. Hell, any reasonable person would have lost their temper long before this moment. With a resigned sigh, Allen turned to the figure in the doorway and readied himself to face the wrath of Lavi.

Except the person who strode purposefully into the room wasn't Lavi.

It was Kanda.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Allen demanded after a moment of pure shock.

"Funny," Kanda grunted. "I came here to ask you the same question."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," Kanda said, towering over him.

Allen felt the nearly overwhelming urge to cower, but he drew himself up and glared instead. "No, I really don't."

"Lavi," Kanda said, and Allen winced. "Why are you avoiding him?"

"Why do you care?" Allen muttered.

"I don't," Kanda growled. "Whatever retarded little problems the two of you have, just work them the fuck out, okay? The stupid rabbit has been moping around the house for almost a week because you won't talk to him and I am sick of it."

"Moping?" Allen repeated.

"And whining," Kanda added, disgusted. "I have to listen to him whine and complain all damn day. Lenalee doesn't have to deal with it because she's always at rehearsal, so he turns to _me._"

"I…" Allen trailed off.

"What the hell happened?" Kanda asked, crossing his arms across his chest. "Because the rabbit has no fucking idea."

"I don't really want to…"

"Look, whatever," Kanda said, changing his mind and impatiently shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "I don't even care what happened. You just fix it, got it? Or so help me God, I will murder you in your sleep."

Allen's thoughtful, uncertain expression was replaced with a scowl. "I'm not afraid of you, Kanda. You can threaten me all you want, but I don't have to listen to you. Why should I? You don't know _anything_. You don't even like me!"

"Damn straight I don't."

"You've hated me from the moment you saw me," Allen continued, ignoring Kanda's agreement. "I don't know what I ever did to you, but you obviously don't care about me at all. So why are you even bothering?"

"This isn't about you, beansprout," Kanda spat. "It's about that idiotic rabbit and his pathetic whining."

"So…what? You don't care about me, but you do care about Lavi?"

"I never said I cared about that moron," Kanda grumped.

But Allen wasn't fooled. He broke into an understanding smile, much to Kanda's aggravation. "I see."

"You don't see shit," Kanda snapped. Then he calmed a bit, adopting a more neutral expression. "Whatever that dumbass said or did to you, he said or did when he was drunk off his ass. I can guarantee he didn't mean it."

Allen felt like he had been punched in the gut, and then he realized several things all at once. The first was that he really _did_ have some sort of feelings for Lavi, as evidenced by the overpowering disappointment he was currently feeling. The second was that Lavi probably didn't feel the same way. The others mostly had to do with exactly how _stupid_ and _pathetic _he was. He felt like crying again, but he couldn't let himself break down in front of Kanda. So he arranged his expression into one of polite curiosity and said "Oh?"

"Yeah," Kanda sneered. "So whatever's got you all offended, you can just get over it, all right?"

Allen frowned up at him, confused. "Offended?"

"That's why you're avoiding him, isn't it? Because he said or did something stupid that pissed you off?"

"Right," Allen said, after a beat of silence. "Offended. I'm…offended."

Kanda gave him a strange look. "What's wrong with you? You're being weird."

"Nothing is wrong," Allen said quickly. "You're right, Kanda. I've been acting foolishly, and it certainly isn't fair to Lavi. Thank you for helping me to realize that." Of course, Allen had already realized this, but Kanda didn't need to know that.

"Whatever," Kanda huffed. "Just forgive the damn rabbit so he'll stop crying and leave me the hell alone."

"He's crying?" Allen yelped, alarmed.

"Well, no," Kanda grudgingly admitted. "But he looks like he's about to pretty much constantly. That's pathetic enough as it is."

"Oh, good," Allen said, sighing in relief. He'd feel like an even bigger douche than he already did if the normally cheerful redhead was actually _crying_ over this whole affair.

"Che," Kanda scoffed, shifting his weight again to illustrate his supreme irritation. "Whatever. Just fix this. Or I will beat the shit out of you." He turned on his heel, stormed down the stairs, and slammed the front door with enough force to rattle the windows.

And even though Kanda had spent the whole conversation threatening him and glaring as if Allen was the sole reason for every bad thing that had ever happened to the Japanese boy, Allen couldn't help but feel a little grateful. This was just the little push he needed to stop wallowing in his "do I or don't I/does he or doesn't he?" funk and start to be proactive.

At some point. Just not, you know, right now.

* * *

On Friday morning, Allen almost went to history class. He had his book, his notebook, his pencils, and his pens all stowed in his backpack—which was actually slung over his shoulder—and his hand was on the doorknob when he saw Lavi walk past on the sidewalk through the little window in his front door. This was his chance, the _perfect_ chance, to catch up with the taller boy and have a heartfelt conversation as they walked together to class. So, obviously, Allen threw his backpack on the ground, bolted up the stairs, and locked himself in the bathroom for an hour.

First attempt at reconciliation: failed.

Allen somehow made it to his bio lecture later that afternoon without running into Lavi, though he kept glancing over his shoulder like some paranoid weirdo who was always checking to see if the FBI was following him. Lo Fa sat next to him and chatted happily about something while Allen completely ignored her. He spent the entire lecture constructing and deconstructing various plans for talking to Lavi. In the end, all he had come up with was walking over to his house, knocking on the door, and saying "hi Lavi" when he answered.

_Very sophisticated,_ Allen thought sarcastically.

And even though he'd resolved to talk things over with the older boy, he was still beyond nervous to actually do so. So when class was over, he loitered in the sitting area just inside the main doors of the science building and checked his e-mail on his laptop using the building's wireless internet access. Lavi must have been covering for him in history, because he found a message in his inbox from Professor Yaeger urging him to "get well soon" and reminding him that he had a short paper on Ancient Mesopotamia due on Monday. If he needed any help with it, he could ask the reference librarian in the history section of the University's library and he/she should be able to answer any questions Allen might have.

Jumping at the chance to evade Lavi for just a little while longer, Allen packed up his things and headed toward the library. He'd only ever been on the main level in order to study, so he ventured upstairs with more than a little trepidation. He followed the signs to the history section and saw the librarian's desk just past a table full of girls who were whispering loudly and giggling to each other about something. Their table was piled with ten or twelve books, each on a completely different historical topic. None of them had even been opened. As Allen walked past, he heard a bit of their hushed conversation.

"What should we ask for next?" A slightly breathless blonde hissed.

"I don't know!" Another girl replied, flustered. "I don't know anything about history. Plus, I think he's starting to get suspicious."

"Is he?" a third girl squealed. "What'll we—?"

At that point Allen tuned them out. He approached the desk and found that the librarian was sitting in a high-backed office chair, facing away from him.

"Excuse me?" Allen said politely. "Could I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing!" came a horribly familiar voice, and the chair swiveled around to reveal the smiling face of one Lavi Bookman.

_Of course,_ Allen thought drily.

"Allen?" Lavi asked softly, his voice sounding so much like it had on Halloween night that it jarred Allen out of his self-pitying thoughts (in which he was cursing his rotten, rotten luck). Allen just blinked stupidly at the redhead, whose guarded expression quickly melted into one of happiness and relief. "Hey there, neighbor!"

Allen had been planning to talk to Lavi, but at some later time when he could actually figure out something to say. Right now, he was incredibly unprepared. And before he even realized what he was doing, Allen panicked, turned, and positively _ran_ away.

"Wait!" Lavi called desperately. "Get back here, beansprout!"

Allen didn't let the hated nickname distract him from his escape attempt, but he was in such an alarmed haze that he didn't realize he was heading in the complete opposite direction as the exit. When he finally figured out he was going the wrong way, he glanced over his shoulder to find the correct path to the door and was horrified to see Lavi vaulting over the desk and tearing after him.

So now he was being chased.

Fortunately for Allen, he'd always been a good sprinter. If he'd been the type of person who joined things, he would have been on the track team in high school. The coach had even begged him to run for them on more than one occasion.

Unfortunately for Allen, Lavi was _also_ a good sprinter. And his legs were longer.

"Gah!" Allen shouted as he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist. His momentum carried him a step further before Lavi tackled him to the ground. Allen would have landed on his face, but Lavi had turned his body slightly as he fell, probably to prevent just that from happening. Still, he found himself lying on the floor of the library, deep in the stacks where students rarely ventured, with his best friend/potential love interest pinning him to the floor. All in all, not the most comfortable position he could think of at the moment.

"I said _wait_," Lavi panted.

"Get off of me," Allen wheezed.

"No way," Lavi said.

But he shifted his weight a bit, which Allen took as an opening to escape. This, of course, was a big mistake.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lavi asked, faintly amused. He grabbed Allen's shoulder and flipped him around, then sat down again, so that he was effectively straddling the younger boy's waist.

"Lavi," Allen said, squirming a bit. "Seriously, get off of me. You're heavy."

"Are you calling me fat?" Lavi said with mock offense. Then the look in his eye hardened, and Allen felt himself give an audible gulp. "I'm not letting you go until I say what I have to say, okay?"

Allen just nodded mutely, trying desperately to fight the blush that was creeping up his face due to the compromising position he and Lavi were in.

"Good. All right then." Then the look in his eye softened again, and the face he made could only be described at contrite. "I'm so, so, so, so sorry!"

"Huh?" Allen said intelligently.

"Yu told me he talked to you. Said I did some stupid shit at the party and got you all mad at me."

"He did, did he?" Allen said nervously.

"Yeah. And, like I said in that text, I don't remember most of that party, like, at all! But I dug through the recycling bin and I found this empty bottle of whiskey."

"Whiskey?" Allen said, confused. Though Lavi wouldn't have seen the empty bottle of gin, as Allen had been in such a daze when he left the party that night he'd taken it home with him. It was currently sitting in the cupboard under the sink in his kitchen, as he'd been strangely reluctant to throw it away. Or recycle it, as the case may be.

"Yeah. And then I thought 'oh shit.' Cause you know how different alcohol affects me in different ways? Like, rum makes me happy and sleepy, and gin makes me flirty"—Allen shifted uneasily at this—"and whiskey makes me mean."

"Mean?" Allen said, distracted for a moment from the feeling of Lavi's legs pressing into his sides by this revelation.

"Mean," Lavi confirmed with a little nod. "When I drink whiskey, I get really mean and, like, confrontational. I'm always challenging someone to a fight, and I'm always saying really wicked things to people. Like, stuff that's totally uncalled for. So. I'm so sorry for whatever I said to you. I don't even want to know what it was that I said, because I'll just feel even guiltier than I already do. But how can I make it up to you? I'll do anything! Just please," he said, giving Allen his sweetest puppy-dog eyes. "Stop ignoring me, buddy. It makes me really sad."

Now, Allen knew that all of this was a complete lie. Daisya had been the one to drink the whiskey, of course. He did it all by himself during the poker game, taking a shot every time he lost a hand. He was very quickly out of alcohol and had passed out on the couch shortly thereafter. Allen could correct Lavi right now. He could tell Lavi that, actually, it was an entire bottle of _gin_ he'd drank, and he'd come onto Allen in the kitchen and that Allen had been in emotional turmoil over his feelings all week and _that_ was the real reason he'd been avoiding him, and that they really needed to have a serious conversation about the true nature of their relationship.

He could have said all of these things.

He didn't.

"Oh," he eventually choked out. "I didn't know about the whiskey thing, Lavi. I'm…I'm sorry too. It doesn't matter what was said, as long as I know you…" he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You didn't mean it."

"Really?" Lavi looked _so_ happy and Allen could feel a dull ache building in his chest.

"Really," he said, doing his best to give his friend a genuine smile. In the end, Lavi was very special to him. Whether or not he liked Lavi as more than a friend was irrelevant at this juncture because he couldn't risk losing Lavi as a friend if the redhead didn't reciprocate. This past week of avoiding him had left Allen feeling terribly lonely, and that was a feeling Allen just couldn't bear.

"Whew!" Lavi said, his shoulders sagging in relief. He gave Allen a lopsided grin and chuckled a bit. "I think we need to be a little better at communicating, little buddy. If I ever do anything like that again, just tell me I'm being a dumbass and I'll apologize. Kay?"

"Sure," Allen said, cautiously returning the grin. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

"Don't sweat it, neighbor! I totally deserved it."

_No you didn't,_ Allen thought sadly. _You didn't deserve any of that, Lavi._

"Anyway, you needed some help? Oh, I bet it's for that history paper for Yaeger's class, right? You missed a lot of class." He looked remorseful again. "My fault, of course."

"Quit blaming yourself," Allen mumbled.

"Well, anyway, you'll need some books on Ancient Mesopotamia, right?"

"That's right," Allen said.

"Great!" Lavi chirped. He didn't seem to realize he was still straddling Allen, though Allen was highly conscious of this fact.

"Yeah."

Lavi just looked at him for a moment, then reached down and tucked a lock of Allen's hair behind his ear. Allen blinked at him in surprise and Lavi's grin grew more radiant, somehow. "I'm glad we're pals again," he said warmly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, um, uh," Allen stammered.

"You're so cute," Lavi chuckled, finally getting off of Allen and standing. He held out his hand. "Let me help you up, beansprout."

"My name is Allen," Allen said automatically, but he reached out and took the proffered hand.

"I know," Lavi said, heaving a contented sigh as he hauled Allen to his feet. "Come on. Let's go learn some shit about history. Do you know what you want the topic of your paper to be?"

"Not really," Allen admitted.

"We can brainstorm," Lavi assured him. "Come on. If we find a good book, we can check the index for ideas about topics to explore."

"That's a good idea," Allen said, trailing after Lavi as he moved further into the stacks. "So, hey, I didn't know you worked at the library."

"It was my gramps' idea," Lavi said, glancing over his shoulder at Allen to roll his eye. "It's pretty dorky, I'll admit, but at least I get paid. Not very much, of course, but still!"

They passed the table of girls Allen had seen when he walked in. They giggled and chorused "hi Lavi!" as he passed, and he gave them a smile and a little wave that caused them to dissolve into shrieks and squeals. Lavi gave Allen a secret smirk and shook his head.

"Those girls always come here and ask me to find them one book or another. They don't actually need my help; they just want to talk to me. It's flattering, but really, it gets old fast."

As Lavi led Allen through the shelves, pulling books at random and chatting animatedly about ancient cultures, the warm, happy smile never left his face. When he touched Allen's shoulder to get his attention, his hand lingered a second longer than necessary. When he looked into Allen's eyes, his expression was one Allen couldn't even begin to describe but left him feeling giddy and warm.

And as he flipped the worn, yellowed pages of old books, Allen once again allowed himself to hope.

* * *

So, yeah. It's still unresolved, but this is, like, the major event of the story. Can't expect it to be solved in one chapter, right? Right! Because if it was, the story would be over and then I would be sad. So. If you'd like, I'd appreciate it if you left a review! :)


	14. A Very Reluctant Double Date

Hi there.

Well, Chapter 14 is here. I had a lot of trouble with this one, actually. I had about 1000 words written, then decided I didn't like it and started over completely. Then I decided I didn't like that and went back to what I originally had and tweaked it a bit and...yeah.

Also, I'm just going to say this right now: I have midterms coming up very soon ( I even have two in one day! Ugh!) so the next chapter or two might be late. I sincerely apologize for that, you guys! I'll do my best to get them out on schedule, but I can't make any promises. This makes me a very sad panda, but it's what happens when you're a student. School is obviously overrated.

Once again: thank you to all of my lovely reviewers. This story has broken 200 reviews; can you believe it? I appreciate all of your kind words and support. They're what keep me going when I'm feeling frustrated with dialogue or the flow of a certain chapter, so thanks for all of your help!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man.

* * *

"Beansprout! Hey, wake up, neighbor!"

Allen grunted and batted away the hand that was trying to shake him awake. He began to snuggle back into his blankets, but then his eyes snapped open and he abruptly sat up.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

Lavi was sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling brightly at him. "Hey kid! Thought you should get up. I have a super awesome plan for an adventure today!"

Allen stared at him. "What are you doing in my room?" he finally asked.

"Waking you up, duh!" Lavi said, flicking Allen's forehead. "Come on, get dressed!"

"Lavi," Allen said patiently. "You can't just break into my house and be in my bedroom when I wake up. That is very, very creepy."

"Creepy?" Lavi repeated, offended. "Dude, I am so _not_ creepy. I am quirky and loveable and you should be _grateful_ to be woken up by the awesomeness that is me. Besides, I didn't break in. I have a key."

"Which you stole from my drawer without my knowledge."

Lavi huffed and crossed his arms. "You know you're excited to see me."

Allen raised a skeptical eyebrow and opened his mouth to retort but Lavi was having none of it. He seized Allen by the wrist and hauled him out from beneath his warm covers.

"Lavi!" Allen hissed. He stood there awkwardly in nothing but his boxers, fidgeting under the taller boy's gaze. "I'm not really wearing anything, you know."

"I can see that," Lavi replied, smirking. "Now come on, put some clothes on. We're going on a bike ride!"

"A bike ride?" Allen said dumbly.

"Of course!" Lavi said. "It's a really nice day, and there's this cool bike path that runs behind the school I've always wanted to check out."

"Yeah," Allen said, moving toward his closet to dig for something to wear. "I'm not really into physical activity."

"Don't I know it," Lavi chuckled. "Remember that time we went to the athletic center?"

"Let's not speak of that," Allen said quickly. He pulled out a pair of jeans, a white v-neck t-shirt, and a navy blue sweatshirt, then rummaged through his dresser for a pair of clean boxers and some fresh socks. When he turned back around Lavi was still there, just sort of staring at him.

"Um," Allen said.

"What's up?" Lavi asked.

"I need to change now," Allen pointed out, holding up his armload of clothes for emphasis.

"Okay, cool!" Lavi said happily. "Hurry it up, dude." And then he continued to stand there.

"Um," Allen said again. "Could you maybe, you know, leave?"

"Hey, we're all guys here," Lavi pointed out. "Don't have to be shy around me, beansprout."

"It's Allen," he said tiredly. "And I'd prefer it if you gave me some privacy."

"Fine, fine," Lavi said, holding up his hands in a show of surrender. "But don't be slow, okay? Or I will come back in here, whether you're dressed or not, and drag you downstairs. Got it?"

"Sure."

Lavi eyed him critically for a moment and then gave a short nod and backed out of the room. "Be quick about it, dude. I want to get on with my uber sweet plan!" He gave Allen a lopsided grin and closed the door behind him.

Allen let out a long sigh and collapsed back onto his bed. Acting normally around Lavi took a lot out of him, especially when Lavi was doing things like _this_. When he'd first seen the exuberant redhead perched on the side of his bed a million different thoughts began racing through his head. Most of them were…less than virtuous.

Allen groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. This was the first "adventure" the two of them would have since Allen began to realize the extent of his feelings for Lavi. He wasn't really sure how he should act. Normally, he figured, as normally as he had been acting for the past week. Lavi clearly hadn't noticed any sort of change in Allen, or if he had, he hadn't said anything about it. Allen wasn't sure if he was relieved by this or not.

After that day in the library, Lavi had been over to Allen's house during every free moment he had, saying he needed to "make up for lost time." They hung out, watched TV, played video games, and just talked about whatever. Allen would watch Lavi's handsome face as he chatted animatedly about his thesis or what some dumb guy in his History of Ancient Turkey class had said during a class discussion and silently berate himself for avoiding his friend for so long. Life without Lavi, Allen found, was dull and unbearable.

Allen lay on his bed contemplating this for a moment longer when his bedroom door burst open and Lavi bounded in.

"Dude!" Lavi said, when he saw Allen had done absolutely nothing but lie back down. "What the hell?"

"Uh," Allen said guiltily. "Oops?"

"Oops?" Lavi repeated incredulously. "You kicked me out so you could go back to sleep, didn't you? You sneaky little bastard." He paused, regarding Allen with his head cocked to the side. "I guess I'll just have to help you."

"Help me?" Allen said suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're obviously incapable of dressing yourself," Lavi said, advancing on Allen with an ominous smirk. "But don't worry, buddy. I'll lend you a hand."

"No!" Allen shouted, holding up his hands. "N-no, I can do it myself. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm doing it now. So just…get out, okay? I'll be down in a minute."

"I don't know…" Lavi said slowly, raising an eyebrow. Allen rushed forward and pushed Lavi out of the room before the taller boy even knew what was happening. He slammed the door and locked it behind him, and then dressed as quickly as he could. He could hear Lavi out in the hallway the entire time, laughing his ass off.

When Allen was finally dressed, the two of them ventured out into the crisp early November air and pulled Allen's bike out of his garage. Lavi had already dragged his bike up from where he'd been storing it in his basement and had it parked in the alley between his garage and Allen's.

"I haven't ridden this thing at all this year," Allen admitted.

"Me neither, and that's a damn shame. We should have done this earlier."

Allen hummed in agreement. "Oh, shoot, I almost forgot my helmet. Hang on a second." He turned to go back into his garage to find it when he felt Lavi's hand on his shoulder. He froze.

"Your _helmet_?" Lavi said in disbelief. "You actually wear a helmet? How old are you, seven?"

"Hey, safety first!" Allen retorted. But instead of its usual sarcasm, his tone held more than a hint of nervousness. The hand on his shoulder tightened and for a brief moment Allen thought he might collapse. But then he realized he was acting like an idiot.

"You okay?" Lavi asked with concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Allen said, trying to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lavi said, sliding his hand over Allen's shoulder and pulling him into a headlock.

"To get my helmet?" Allen choked out.

"No way in hell I'm being seen with you when you're wearing a dorky helmet," Lavi said, wheeling around and depositing Allen next to his bike.

"But Mana said to always wear a helmet. What if I crash and hit my head?" Allen demanded.

"You won't crash," Lavi said dismissively.

"But what if I do?"

"You won't."

Allen sighed and clambered onto his bike. He never could argue with Lavi. Even before Allen had started to like him as "more than a friend," he could never win against Lavi. The white-haired boy was a little surprised that this didn't really bother him.

"All right!" Lavi whooped, swinging a leg over his own bike. "Super Bike Adventure Time—Go!" Then he pushed off, pedaling furiously down the street.

Allen just chuckled and followed him.

The bike ride was pleasant and peaceful. The path they followed ran around the back of the campus, through the marsh on the other side of Second Street, and alongside the river that flowed through the town. While the majority of the leaves had already fallen from the trees, the ones that remained were bright and beautiful shades of red, yellow, and orange. Lavi talked the entire time, of course, but Allen just let the smooth, warm sound of his voice wash over him as he concentrated on pedaling and breathing. It was actually rather hard work for the exercise-impaired boy, so when they reached the end of the path in a park downtown Lavi took pity on him and offered to buy him breakfast.

"What is this place?" Allen asked as they locked their bikes up at the metal rack next to the restaurant. "I've never heard of it before."

"It's just a little bakery place," Lavi replied. "They have the absolute best breakfast in town. I like to come here a lot."

"Do you bring your dates here?" Allen blurted before he could stop himself.

"Nope!" Lavi said cheerfully. "You're actually the first person I've ever brought here. Don't you feel special?"

"Sure," Allen said, brushing past him quickly to keep him from seeing his pleased blush.

"They're usually not very busy on Saturdays," Lavi said, holding the door open for Allen to walk through. "So it should be pretty quiet."

"That'll be nice," Allen said. He stepped into the interior of the restaurant and promptly began drooling. Along the left hand wall was a low counter that held a cash register, but that wasn't what Allen was interested in. Next to the register was a tall glass case filled with cakes, pies, cookies, and all different sorts of pastries. There were even some desserts that Allen couldn't name. He turned to Lavi, eyes shining. "This was a very good idea."

Lavi laughed delightedly. "Glad you like it. They don't have a hostess, so we just seat ourselves. I like to sit in this booth in the—"

"Allen!" a high-pitched voice shrieked. Allen barely had time to exchange a confused glance with Lavi before he was tackled to the ground. Spiky blue hair obscured his vision and he gasped for air as he attempted to dislodge the sudden weight on his chest.

"Rhode?" he wheezed.

"Oh Allen, I haven't seen you in forever! What are you doing here?" The excited girl babbled.

"You know her?" Lavi asked, more confused than before.

"Well, she's—ah—Rhode," Allen puffed. "You are crushing me."

"I'm sorry!" she said brightly, clearly not sorry at all. "I just got so excited when I saw you. It's been so long!"

"Rhode? What are you doing?" another familiar voice inquired smoothly.

"Tyki, Tyki, look who I found!" she said excitedly. "This is the boy I keep telling you about, Allen Walker!"

"_This_ is your boyfriend?" Tyki said incredulously, looking from where Allen was pinned to the floor to where Lavi was standing open-mouthed in shock. When he made eye contact with the one-eyed boy he smirked. "Tough luck, Lavi."

"Shut up," Lavi hissed.

"I'm confused," Allen interjected from his place beneath Rhode. "And really, Rhode, could you please get off of me? I'm having difficulty breathing down here."

"All right," she said, disappointed. She crawled off of him and Lavi was immediately at his side, helping him to his feet.

"You're dating her, Allen?" Lavi said lowly.

"No, I'm not," Allen said, waving his hands. "Rhode and I went to high school together. She was a freshman when I was a senior. She's a bit, um… enamored of me."

Lavi's tight, serious expression relaxed and he snickered. "Damn, Allen, you're a real lady-killer. Who'da thought?"

"Shut up, stupid Lavi," Allen muttered.

"What a heartwarming display," Tyki said, still smirking. Allen and Lavi both looked at him, having briefly forgotten he was there. Lavi's eye narrowed but Allen took a cautious step forward.

"How do you know Rhode?" Allen asked him curiously.

"He's my uncle!" Rhode chirped, grabbing Tyki's hand. "I came to visit him and he said he'd buy me cake."

"This place does have the best dessert in town," Tyki said, shrugging.

"Tyki, how do you know Allen?" Rhode wanted to know.

"We have a mutual friend," Tyki said, gesturing to Lavi.

"You're not my friend," Lavi snapped.

"Oh, Tyki!" Rhode interrupted, eyes lighting up. "Is this that boy you like?"

Lavi blanched as Tyki nodded, smiling wickedly. "This is Lavi Bookman."

Rhode considered him a moment, her head cocked slightly to the right. "He's pretty cute," she finally decided. "But not as cute as Allen!" Then she launched herself forward, threw her arms around Allen's neck, and proceeded to cuddle him like a kitten.

"Um," Allen said awkwardly.

"Hey, I know what we can do!" Rhode said excitedly. "Why don't we all sit together? It'll be like a double date!"

"There's no way in _hell_—" Lavi began heatedly, but Rhode completely ignored him.

"Come on, Allen! This way, this way!" She dragged him toward the back of the restaurant where she and Tyki had been sitting when they'd seen Allen and Lavi come in, still clinging to his neck.

Allen twisted around to give Lavi a pleading look and saw Tyki offer the redhead his arm with a mocking grin. Lavi just glared at him and hurried after Allen. Tyki followed at a more sedate pace, chuckling.

"You can sit next to me!" Rhode declared, shoving Allen onto one side of the booth and sliding in after him. Lavi stood next to the table uncertainly, reluctant to sit next to Tyki. Tyki slid into the booth so that he was sitting across from Allen, then turned to look at Lavi and patted the place on the bench next to him. Lavi gritted his teeth and sat down, sitting as close to the edge as he could.

"Now, isn't this pleasant?" Tyki said, amused.

"We can share a menu," Rhode said, shoving the piece of purple laminated paper in Allen's face. "It looks like they have a lot of great stuff here. What are you going to get?"

"I don't know," Allen said faintly. He looked anxiously at Lavi and found the taller boy staring at him with a peculiar look on his face. Allen couldn't quite place it, so he cocked his head in question. Lavi just shook his head minutely and then looked suspiciously at Tyki, who was slowly inching closer to him on the bench.

"What?" Tyki asked innocently. "I thought perhaps you'd like to see my menu."

"Uh huh," Lavi said skeptically.

"Aww, they're so cute together," Rhode simpered. "Don't you think so, Allen?"

"Um," Allen said, yet again. Lavi shook his head, horrified.

Tyki grinned and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand. "Well, boy," he said, grinning like a serial killer. "What _do_ you think? You have the strangest look on your face. Don't tell me you're jealous?"

Lavi stopped his terrified spluttering to look closely at Allen. That peculiar look was back on his face, but it was a bit softer somehow.

"Jealous?" Rhode said obliviously. "Why would Allen be jealous of you? He doesn't like _boys_."

"Of course not," Tyki said. "How silly of me."

Allen sat motionless in his seat, embarrassed beyond all reason. He was struggling to come up with something to say when the waitress bustled over.

"I'm sorry about the wait," she said. "What can I get you four to drink?"

"I'll have coffee," Tyki said carelessly. "Make it black."

"Hot chocolate!" Rhode demanded. "With whipped cream!"

"What are you getting, Allen?" Lavi asked quietly.

"Oh! Um…I don't know… hang on a second…" Allen stammered, quickly scanning the menu.

"Get him a hot chocolate too!" Rhode said to the waitress. "You'll like it, I promise!" she added, turning to smile widely at Allen.

"Um, okay. Sure," Allen mumbled.

"I'll just have a water," Lavi said, giving the waitress a small smile. Allen was surprised. The waitress was a rather good-looking girl around Lavi's age who'd been surreptitiously watching the redhead out of the corner of her eye the entire time she'd been taking their order. Normally, Lavi would give her his signature charming grin and flirt a bit (if only to maybe get a discount on their food). But today he wasn't even trying.

_Must be annoyed about Tyki_, Allen decided, watching as Lavi leaned as far away as possible from the older boy.

"So Allen, do you go to college at Black Order U?" Rhode asked.

"Yes, I do," Allen said politely.

"I'm so glad! You left town before I could find out where you were going. I asked your godfather, but I think he was drunk at the time and he slammed the door in my face. What a meanie," she said, sulking.

"He'll do that," Allen replied.

"But now that I know where you are, I can come see you any time I want! Tyki will drive me, won't you Tyki?"

"Of course," Tyki said. "What are favorite uncles for?"

"Yay!" Rhode cheered. Then she latched onto Allen's arm and leaned her chin on his shoulder as she studied the menu.

Allen looked over at Lavi again, but his friend was immersed in the menu he'd stolen from Tyki. Allen sighed and looked at the one he shared with Rhode. All he wanted to do was leave, but if he tried to escape without eating with her, Rhode was likely to throw a tantrum. He'd been on the receiving end of her fits on multiple occasions (the worst was when Allen refused to ask her to the Prom like she wanted him to) and knew it was best to just tough it out. Still, he felt uncomfortable and guilty that Lavi had to deal with Tyki. He was also disappointed that his morning of having Lavi all to himself had been brought to such an abrupt end.

He was lamenting this frustrating turn of events and trying to decide between the stuffed French toast and the Belgian waffle when Lavi gave a shout, knocked into the table, and went sprawling to the floor.

"What the _hell,_" he hissed, glaring at Tyki.

Tyki just smiled his wicked smile. "What?"

"Lavi, are you okay?" Allen asked, worried.

"Yeah, what are you doing on the ground?" Rhode asked, leaning over him.

"You need to keep your damn hands to yourself," Lavi growled at Tyki.

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about," Tyki said, innocently folding his hands on the table.

"Oh, I get it," Rhode said. "Aww, isn't that cute Allen? He's embarrassed!"

"I'm not embarrassed," Lavi snapped, picking himself up off of the floor and dusting off his pants. "I'm pissed off. Come on Allen. Let's just get out of here. I can't take this anymore."

"But what about Allen's hot chocolate?" Rhode turned to Allen, her eyes wide and imploring. "We were gonna spend some time together. I never get to see you!"

"Well, Rhode, Lavi and I were, um, oh dear…" Allen trailed off as tears began to well up in the girl's eyes. He sighed. "Lavi, you can go home. I'll just stay here for a bit."

"Yay!" Rhode cheered again, her tears miraculously vanishing as she began to squeeze the life out of Allen again in yet another enthusiastic hug.

Lavi stared at Allen with a faintly betrayed expression. He frowned, began to turn, and then stopped and stared at Allen again.

"By all means, Lavi, don't feel compelled to remain on my account," Tyki said, smirking. "Allen here can entertain me quite well, I think."

"Oh, hell no," Lavi said, immediately sitting back down. "I'm not leaving my little buddy all alone with you and your crazy niece person. Besides," he said haughtily, picking up the menu again. "I'm still hungry."

"Of course," Tyki said, giving Allen a _look_. Its meaning eluded him, and when Allen frowned in question Tyki shook his head. "So oblivious, the both of you. Still, all the more fun for me, hmm?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lavi demanded. "You should just shut up if all you're going to do is spout random bullshit."

"He's not very nice, Tyki," Rhode said, glaring at Lavi. "Are you sure you like him?"

"Maybe not so much anymore," Tyki said, winking at Allen. Lavi sputtered at this, and Rhode started whining about how Allen was _hers_ and how Tyki always stole all of the boys she liked. Allen just sat in silence, cursing his terrible luck and wondering how this meal could get any more awkward.

"Have you decided?" the waitress asked, appearing so suddenly that Allen jumped. She handed out their drinks and pulled a notepad out of her apron.

"Cake!" Rhode cried. "Chocolate, though, and not that yucky carrot cake I saw in the case over there."

"All right," the waitress said, scribbling down her order. "Who's next?"

"I'll just stick to the coffee, thank you," Tyki said.

"Are you sure? We have a great selection of—"

"I'm sure," Tyki cut in, smiling with all of his teeth.

"Oh…okay…" the waitress said. She looked at him a little fearfully.

"Could you please tell me, in your personal opinion, what's better—the stuffed French toast or the Belgian waffle?" Allen asked politely.

"Oh!" the waitress said, brightening. "I like the French toast the best. Especially with the strawberry filling. It's delicious!"

"I'll take that, then," Allen said, handing her his menu with a grin.

"All right, great! And what'll you have?" she said, turning toward Lavi with a smile.

"I'll have that too," Lavi replied, smiling back. But it lacked its usual warmth and brightness and seemed more perfunctory than anything. Allen winced. That was not the kind of smile he liked to see on Lavi's face.

"Awesome! I'll be back with your orders as soon as they're ready!"

The minute she left, Rhode began pestering Allen to try his hot chocolate.

"I'm letting it cool down a bit," he said, blowing on it a little. "I don't want to burn my tongue."

"Like you did that one time at last year's homecoming football game?" Rhode said, laughing.

"That's not funny!" Allen exclaimed. "Everything tasted like rubber for a week after that!"

"That's exactly why it's funny," Rhode countered.

"You don't really strike me as the type to go to football games, Allen," Lavi said with a hint of amusement.

"I'm not, trust me," Allen assured him.

"I made him go with me," Rhode said. "It was our first date!"

Lavi choked on his water.

"It wasn't a date," Allen said quickly.

"That's what you keep saying," Rhode sighed. "But we both know it was."

"How charming," Tyki said, grinning at his niece.

_Kill me,_ Allen thought wearily.

"So, how did you two meet?" Rhode asked, glancing quickly between Lavi and Tyki. "Was it romantic? Where did you have your first date?"

"We're not dating," Lavi ground out. "We've never had a date in our lives and I can guarantee you our meeting wasn't romantic."

"Can you?" Tyki wondered. "I always thought you said you don't remember that night."

"Well, I don't," Lavi sniffed. "I was drunk. Like, way drunk. That's the only reason I even talked to you."

"Indeed," Tyki said, leaning toward him.

"Tyki, are you _sure_ you like this guy?" Rhode asked, glowering at Lavi. "He's so mean to you! Do I need to teach him a lesson?" Her fingers curled around the butter knife that lay to the left of her hot chocolate and she narrowed her eyes threateningly.

"No!" Allen shouted in alarm. "No, no, Rhode, there's no need for that. Lavi will behave himself, won't you Lavi?" He threw the redhead a pleading look.

"Dude, quit freaking out," Lavi said, raising an eyebrow. "What's she gonna do to me with a butter knife?"

Allen just looked at him pityingly and Tyki covered his mouth to hide his grin.

"What?" Lavi asked.

"There are a lot of things she can do to you with that butter knife, Lavi," Allen said hollowly.

"Huh?"

"I stabbed Allen with a plastic spork once," Rhode said cheerfully.

"You did what now?" Lavi demanded, shocked.

"He deserved it!" Rhode insisted. "He was being a meanie."

"But it was _my_ cookie," Allen mumbled, grimacing at the memory.

"And I wanted it," Rhode said simply. "You really should have just given it to me."

"A plastic spork, though? How much damage could that possibly do?" But Lavi sounded less skeptical now and more genuinely curious.

"I had to get stitches," Allen recalled, rubbing a spot on his left cheek.

"She stabbed you in the _face_?" Lavi gasped, appalled.

"I was aiming for his eye," Rhode said, frowning. "But he moved."

Lavi just gaped at Allen, who gave him a wan smile.

"How delightful," Tyki said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'd say that's pretty much the complete opposite of delightful," Lavi retorted. "What kind of sick—"

Rhode raised the butter knife threateningly and Lavi fell silent with a gulp.

"I think I like you better when you're not talking," she said sweetly.

Allen just about cried for joy when their food finally came. The French toast was good, if a little sweet. Lavi didn't eat much of his and spent the entirety of the meal in sulky silence. Rhode devoured her cake in a way that made Allen feel slightly queasy. Tyki just spent the rest of the time staring intently at Allen and occasionally smirking at Lavi, who glowered back at him. When they were finished and the waitress came to clear their plates, she handed them all their checks.

"I didn't know if you wanted them all together so I just separated them out. I hope you don't mind," she said happily.

"That's just fine, thanks," Allen said. The waitress gave Lavi one last glance and departed.

"Well, shall we?" Tyki asked his niece.

"Aww," she said dejectedly, climbing slowly out of the booth. "But I wanted to spend the day with Allen."

"Homework," Allen blurted out. "I have a lot of homework to do, so I can't. Sorry Rhode."

"You're always so studious," Rhode said, sticking out her tongue. "You never have time to play with me."

"Your uncle will play with you," Allen assured her.

"Did you not come here to visit me, Rhode? You're making me feel very left out and unwanted," Tyki said with false sadness.

"Of course, Tyki!" she trilled, grabbing the older man's hand as he slid out of the booth after Lavi. Allen clambered out last, scrutinizing his bill as he walked next to Lavi.

"Six dollars," he hummed. "Not bad for breakfast."

"Give me that," Lavi said, snatching the paper from his hand.

"Hey! What was that for?" Allen demanded.

"I told you I'd buy you breakfast, didn't I?" Lavi said, digging his wallet out of his pocket. "Let me pay for this."

"Oh," Allen said, blushing a bit. "Thanks."

"Sure," Lavi said, grinning at him. It was a true grin this time, not the empty smile he'd given the waitress and Allen was relieved to see it. And more than a bit pleased, to be truthful. He liked the thought that Lavi's real, bright smile could be reserved for him alone.

"What's that?" Allen asked, pointing at some numbers that were scrawled in purple ink on the bottom of Lavi's receipt.

"The waitress's phone number," Lavi snorted.

"Does this happen often?" Allen wondered.

"What, waitresses writing their numbers on my bill?" Lavi asked. When Allen nodded, the redhead gave a confident smirk. "Of course. I mean, it's me we're talking about here."

"Ah," Allen said drily. "Of course. How could I have forgotten?"

"I'm disappointed in you, beansprout," Lavi teased.

"It's Allen," he corrected.

"Sure, sure." Lavi walked to the register to pay for their food.

"Beansprout?" Rhode repeated, popping up at Allen's shoulder. "Why does he call you that?"

"No reason!" Allen said innocently.

"Is it because you're short?" Rhode guessed.

"Eh?" Allen's face fell.

Rhode laughed. "Aww, you know you're short Allen. But that's okay! It's part of what makes you so cute!"

"Oh, well that's nice," Allen said sardonically.

"Let's go, neighbor! We're outta here," Lavi called, heading for the front door.

"Goodbye Rhode," Allen said, smiling kindly at her. "It was…interesting to see you again."

"I'll see you again soon, Allen!" Rhode said, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing until he began squirming uncomfortably. Then she scampered off.

Allen sighed in relief and made to follow his one-eyed friend when he felt a strong hand clamp onto his shoulder. He whirled around and found himself face to face with Tyki.

"Hi there," Allen said weakly.

"I'd like to give you a little warning, boy," Tyki said amiably.

"Is this the part where you threaten me not to break Rhode's heart or you'll kill me or some such thing?" Allen guessed.

"Certainly not," Tyki said, glancing over at the aforementioned girl. She was kicking the side of a crane-machine game that was filled with stuffed animals, on her way to making a serious dent in its metal side. "Rhode can take care of herself."

"Then what are you warning me about?" Allen asked nervously.

"Lavi," Tyki said, smiling widely. "You'd best move a bit faster than your current snail's pace, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," Tyki replied. "I'm not a fool, boy. Luckily for you, Lavi _is_, so he hasn't figured it out yet. But unfortunately for all of us, the boy has the attention span of a gnat. If you don't tell him soon, he'll move on. Just like he always does. Of course," Tyki said, leaning over him with a smirk, "that might be good for me, yes?"

"You think he'd move on to you?" Allen said, confused. "I think he's made it quite clear that—"

"Of course not," Tyki interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "But if he loses interest in you, that's my cue to swoop in and pick up the pieces of your broken heart, is it not?"

"Huh?" Allen said intelligently.

"Come now, you can't be that dense," Tyki said, wicked grin in place once again.

"I thought you liked Lavi, though," Allen said, staring blankly at him. "You can't possibly be interested in _me_."

"I am…amenable," Tyki said slyly. He reached out and brushed his thumb across Allen's cheek. Allen just gaped like an idiot, rooted to the spot in shock. "But. I am aware that your heart is set on everyone's favorite redhead, so I'll give it some time. It's all on your shoulders, boy. Time is running out, and I can only remain patient for so long."

"My heart isn't…set…" Allen protested weakly.

Tyki gave him a distinctly predatory smile. "At this rate I believe I am _guaranteed_ to get what I want. Hooray for me."

"What is taking you so long, Allen?" Lavi demanded, walking back into the restaurant and brandishing his bike lock at him. He stopped short when he saw Tyki grinning like a hyena and Allen staring at the floor in a clearly confused stupor. "Okay, what the hell did you say to him?"

"Nothing," Allen and Tyki said at the same time. Tyki's grin grew even wider and Allen wheeled around and grabbed a very surprised Lavi by the hand.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Allen said, for once being the one to drag Lavi somewhere.

"Sure thing," Lavi said, throwing one last suspicious glance over his shoulder at Tyki. The older boy waved cheerily as they rushed out of the restaurant.

Allen all but ran to the bike rack, fiddling with his lock with shaking fingers.

"You okay?" Lavi asked in concern. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No. He just wanted to talk to me about Rhode, that's all," Allen lied.

"Oh," Lavi said. "Okay."

"Let's just go home," Allen said, hopping onto his bike seat. "Dealing with Rhode is stressful and very tiring. I think I need a nap."

"What the hell is up with her?" Lavi demanded as they began pedaling their way back to their neighborhood. "She seriously stabbed you with a spork?"

"Yeah," Allen confirmed. "She's kind of…violent."

"Also crazy," Lavi added. "Don't forget crazy. I can't believe she's related to Tyki. Oh wait, yes I can."

"That is a rather unhappy coincidence," Allen agreed.

"I can't believe you dated her," Lavi said, shaking his head.

"I didn't date her! I just hung out with her because she'd throw a tantrum if I didn't."

"Really?" Lavi said, looking at him interest.

"Yes. Once I told her I couldn't go to the movies with her because I had a big project to do over the weekend and she tried to slam my fingers in a car door."

"Tried to?"

"I got them out of the way in time," Allen said, cringing. "She wasn't too happy about that."

"Jeez, kid," Lavi said, shaking his head. "I feel bad for you. You had, like, the most messed up childhood ever."

"Agreed," Allen said softly.

They spent the rest of the ride back in contemplative silence, broken only by the merry chirping of birds in the trees around them and the occasional _swish swish_ of Lavi's green windbreaker as he moved. Allen didn't know what Lavi was thinking about, but he had that look on his face he often got when he was pondering something important. Allen himself mulled over what Tyki had said to him. He carefully ignored the part where Tyki was apparently interested in _him_ now and focused only on what he'd said about Lavi. Was it true? Could he really trust _Tyki Mikk_ of all people to be truthful about, well, anything? Was he running out of time before Lavi lost interest in him? Did Lavi even have any interest in him to begin with?

Allen shook his head wearily. His life was supposed to get simpler when he moved away from his Godfather's house, not exponentially harder.

When they finally got back to their neighborhood, Lavi parked his bike next to Allen's garage.

"Do you mind if I keep my bike in your garage?" he asked. "I don't want to have to drag it back down to the basement and there's no room in my garage with both my car and Lena's in there."

"Oh, sure," Allen said. Lavi flashed him another brilliant smile that had Allen melting a bit on the inside and wheeled his bike in through the open side door.

After their bikes were safely stowed, Lavi turned to Allen and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"What's up?" Allen asked.

"Well, I was just wondering," Lavi started, and Allen felt like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. "If you're not busy or anything—"

"Okay!" Allen said enthusiastically.

"Dude, you don't even know what I'm asking yet," Lavi said, smiling goofily and ruffling the shorter boy's hair. "It's nice to know you're so excited to hang with me, though. I mean, I _am_ pretty awesome, so I can see why you would be."

"Just get to the point, Lavi," Allen said drolly, but on the inside he was burning with embarrassment at his blatant eagerness and curiosity for what Lavi was going to ask.

"Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?" Lavi inquired. "I mean, I know you have your Godfather and stuff, but he doesn't really seem like the sort to give thanks for anything so I didn't know if you were going to visit him or not."

"I haven't really thought about it," Allen replied cautiously. "But probably not. Thanksgiving at Cross' was usually Chinese takeout."

"Sad!" Lavi said, his face sympathetic. "Dude, like I said, worst childhood ever! Okay, so, that settles it. You're coming with me to my gramps' house. He always makes this really huge turkey and there's mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and I think yams, but I don't eat those."

"You want me to come to your Thanksgiving celebration with your grandfather?" Allen asked, touched. "I would appreciate that very much, Lavi."

"Great! You can invite Cross too, if you want," the redhead said uncertainly.

"I think I'd rather not, actually," Allen said, grimacing.

"Just what I wanted to hear," Lavi said. He threw an arm around Allen's shoulders and drew him close. "It'll be so much better if you're there. Plus, you'll get to meet Gramps! I've told him all about you, and he's super curious to see what you're actually like."

"You told him about me?" Allen asked, surprised.

"Sure did!" Lavi said. "He always wants to know about the really important stuff going on in my life. And right now I think it's safe to say that you're the most important thing, for sure."

"Me?" Allen said faintly.

"Yep," Lavi said softly, rubbing his shoulder a bit as he dragged him toward the door to his house. "Now come on. Let's go watch cheesy movies on the sci-fi channel and laugh at the bad acting and terrible special effects!"

"I can't think of anything I'd rather do," Allen said, grinning as he followed the redhead into the house.

* * *

Hmmm. How did this chapter get so long? Oh well. I like it, I think. So, review? You know you want to!


	15. Opening Night

Oh hey. I'm actually alive. Huh.

So first of all, I'd just like to say that I am SO SORRY it took a freaking month to get this chapter out. AND THEN I have the nerve to make it, you know, kind of shitty. But! I have a whole slew of excuses. Ready for it?

First, I had a bunch of tests and whatnot (I got an A- on the only one I got a grade back for, go me!), and then immediately after that my computer died a horrible death. It was tragic. Luckily it was revived, but not after the only free time I had for writing came and went. Boo. And then I got sick, and I'm actually still sick, but I needed to get this chapter out because it's been a month and yeah. So. Those are my excuses. Plus, law school? Is really freaking hard. Who knew, right?

Also, I'm sad to say that this little fic is drawing to a close. If all goes according to plan, the next chapter will be the last. However, if I get more ideas for it, I might write a sequel or something. Who knows. But I'm already working on another idea for a multi-chaptered fic (Laven, natch) so don't even worry guys. Also, just thinking about this idea makes me cackle like a crazy person so it'll probably be even more ridiculous than this story. Somehow.

Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to everyone who dicovered the story while I was taking a break from writing to be a real person (overrated, let me tell ya). Love you all!

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray Man.

* * *

Allen officially _hated_ leaves.

He'd been raking the dead, crumpled things into piles for hours and he was still nowhere close to being done. Deciding to take a break, he leaned on his rake and surveyed his handiwork. There were five small piles dotting his front yard, each with its own black plastic trash bag next to it. Allen sighed heavily as he thought about how he'd fill those bags—it would be difficult to hold them open by himself.

He briefly considered giving up entirely and leaving the leaves where they lay, but a quick glance at his neighbors' yards caused him to sigh again in resignation. Apart from Lavi's yard (which was heaped with more leaves than even Allen had to deal with) the rest of the neighborhood was conspicuously leaf-free. Allen didn't particularly care about meeting the standard of lawn care set out by George and his ilk, but city ordinance required residents to dispose of any and all fallen leaves on their property and Allen really didn't want to give George a reason to call the police on him.

He was glancing carelessly around the neighborhood, trying to find some sort of distraction from his incessant raking, when he noticed a large blue pickup truck parked in front of the house across the street from Lavi's. This was normal enough, of course, as the people on that side of the street didn't have much for garage space and families with multiple vehicles often had to park one of them on the road. What drew Allen's attention was the person laying flat on their stomach underneath the body of the truck with a pair of binoculars pressed to their eyes. Binoculars that were, naturally, aimed at Lavi's living room window.

"Another one?" Allen muttered incredulously to himself. He engaged in a short mental debate, in which he weighed his curiosity about this mysterious binocular-person against his need to continue leaf clean-up. Curiosity won by a landslide.

He threw his rake to the ground more than a little spitefully and cautiously crossed the street, moving toward the mysterious binocular-person until he had to bend down to look under the car to see them.

"Um, excuse me?" he said quietly.

"Shit!" the person yelped, jumping and cracking his head against the bottom of the truck.

"Oh dear," Allen said, with a hint of actual worry.

"Don't do that," the person commanded, setting the binoculars on the asphalt with a glare.

"Sorry," Allen said sheepishly. "I was just wondering what you're doing. You look incredibly suspicious, you know."

"Nothing!" the person, a blonde man in his mid-twenties, said quickly. He adjusted the tasseled cap on his head with a nervous grin. "I'm not doing anything!"

"Really?" Allen said, unconvinced. "Because it looks like you're spying on my friends' house over there." Allen indicated Lavi's house with a tilt of his head.

"I'm not spying!" the man said frantically. "I'm, uh, I'm…" he trailed off as he desperately tried to wriggle out from underneath the truck. When he was finally free he leapt to his feet, snatching up his binoculars as well as a manila folder Allen hadn't seen before. He gave Allen another shifty smile and made to dash away, but the folder slipped from his grip and fell to the pavement. Its contents scattered everywhere.

"Oh no," Allen said, kneeling down next to one of the glossy pages that had fallen at his feet. "Let me help you with these."

"I've got them," the man said, making a grab for the page Allen now held in his hand. But the white-haired boy held it out of his reach, staring at it in shock.

It was a photograph, blown up to eight-and-a-half-by-eleven size. Lenalee smiled brightly at him from the page, frozen in the act of tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You're stalking Lenalee?" Allen finally said.

"What? N-no! No! I'm not _stalking_…" he trailed off feebly.

"I thought you were another one of Lavi's psychotic followers or something. But this?" Allen shook the picture at him, scowling. "This is not allowed, sir. Lenalee is far too normal to have to deal with this nonsense."

"I'm not a stalker," the man whined again. He finally succeeded in snatching the photo from Allen's hand and drew himself up with renewed confidence. "I'm a fan."

"A what?"

"A fan!" the man repeated. "Lenalee is the most promising talent I've seen on this campus in a long time. The life and energy she brings to her performances is truly refreshing and her singing voice is just wonderful. It's opening night tonight for _Beauty and the Beast_ and I was just curious about what she does to prepare for important performances like this."

Allen raised an eyebrow at him. "That doesn't really make lying underneath a truck with a pair of binoculars practically glued to your face seem any less creepy. You realize this, right?"

"I'm not creepy!" the man replied indignantly, seemingly deciding to go for 'haughty' instead of 'scared' now that he'd been found out. "I'm far too awesome to be creepy!"

"So if I told Lenalee about this, you'd—"

"No!" the man pleaded. "No, please don't. Just the thought of that…" He wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered dramatically as big red splotches began to appear on his face.

"Um, sir, you seem to be having some sort of reaction," Allen pointed out helpfully.

"What?" the man said, bending down to look into the blue truck's driver's side mirror. "Oh no, not again!" He tucked all of the papers that he'd gathered (which were all enlarged photos of Lenalee, as far as Allen could tell) back into the manila folder and secured it with a red binder clip. He readjusted his grip on the binoculars, gave Allen one last awkward smile, and bolted down the sidewalk and out of sight.

"What an odd person," Allen said to himself. "Clearly, Lenalee needs to know about this."

Allen considered himself to be a good friend, and even though he hadn't seen Lenalee much in the past few weeks (she'd spent nearly all of her time at the theatre for rehearsals) he still felt he owed it to her to inform her that she had a very strange self-proclaimed fan stalking her from the narrow spaces beneath trucks.

As he trotted up the front steps of her house and rang the doorbell, he had the vague thought that maybe she wasn't even home. After all, the strange man had been right—it was opening night for the play. Even though the show didn't start for a few more hours, Lenalee might be at the theatre getting ready or something.

His worries were for nothing, however, as Lenalee herself answered the door with an inquisitive "yes?" When she saw it was Allen, her eyes lit up. "Allen!" she said happily. "Long time no see! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Lenalee," Allen said, smiling charmingly. "It is good to see you. I just wanted to let you know that there was a man stalking you earlier, from underneath that truck." Allen pointed at the blue vehicle. "He left, however. He had some sort of rash, I think."

"Huh," Lenalee said, frowning. "Are you sure he was stalking _me_? I'm not the one that's usually the object of, um, stalkage around here, you know?"

"I'm not sure 'stalkage' is a word, Lenalee," Allen said, and chuckled when she whacked him playfully on the arm. "And yes, I'm sure. He said he was a fan. Something about you being the most promising talent he'd seen in ages and whatnot."

"Aww," Lenalee said. "That's sort of sweet."

"Sweet?" Allen said doubtfully.

Lenalee shrugged. "Whatever. I'm sure he's harmless. I have a lot of people coming up to me lately and stuff, now that I've been in more shows. This school is known for its theatre program, after all. I'm sure I'll get even more after tonight's performance. Are you coming to that, by the way?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Allen assured her. "Lavi bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. He got one for Kanda, too. I think the jerk is even looking forward to it. Well, he's not complaining about it like I thought he would be. But Lavi has enough enthusiasm for the both of them." He rolled his eyes.

Lenalee's smile turned slightly nervous when Allen mentioned Lavi, and she seemed to be debating something with herself. Finally she sighed, pasted on a large smile, and moved aside slightly. "Anyway, I'm glad you stopped by because I actually have something I want to talk to you about. Would you like to come in?"

Allen raised an eyebrow, but he strolled past the dark-haired girl and into her living room nonetheless. Lenalee closed the door behind them and padded after him. Allen flopped down on the couch but Lenalee remained standing, shifting almost imperceptibly. He raised an eyebrow again.

"So, would you like anything? We have Pepsi, and I think I have some cupcakes left over from Wednesday's rehearsal…"

"Cupcakes?" Allen said, perking up. Lenalee smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. She returned with a small cardboard box covered with aluminum foil and a can of Diet Pepsi. She handed both of them to Allen, who accepted them gratefully. He pulled back the foil and saw six or seven cupcakes nestled in the bottom of the box. He snatched up the closest one, peeled off the paper, and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

"So," Allen said, his mouth full of sprinkles and pink frosting. "Wha' was i' you wan'ed?"

Lenalee leveled him with a serious look. "Krory asked me an interesting question the other day."

Allen swallowed thickly. "Oh yeah?" he prompted, selecting another cupcake.

"Yeah," Lenalee affirmed. "He asked me if you and Lavi were dating."

Allen, who'd just taken a large bite of a blue-frosted cupcake, choked. Lenalee rolled her eyes and slapped him on the back. "Why would he ask you that?" he asked when he could finally breathe again.

"Because," Lenalee said. "He said he saw you two kissing in the kitchen on Halloween."

"Ah," was all Allen said. He toyed with a cupcake wrapper and looked everywhere but at his friend.

Lenalee gasped. "Ohmygod I knew it," she blurted. "You seriously were?"

"No!" Allen said, holding up his hands. "No, he _tried_ to kiss me, but then I pushed him away."

Lenalee looked at him with sad eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"He was drunk!" Allen protested. "He didn't mean it!"

"How do you know?" Lenalee challenged.

"Because," Allen explained. "He was drunk on gin, which makes him flirt with anything that happens to wander past. It's how he ended up with Tyki after him, you know? So it meant nothing."

"You sound disappointed," Lenalee observed.

"I'm not!"

"You are," Lenalee said, squinting at him a little. "I mean, you obviously like him."

"What!"

"Don't try to deny it," Lenalee giggled. "I know things. Woman's intuition and all that. Plus, the way you look at him sometimes? I haven't been around all that often lately, but I still notice. It's hard not to."

"But…but…" Allen trailed off, panicking.

"Stop worrying," she said, hitting him on the head with a throw-pillow. "I think it's cute."

"Doesn't really make me feel better, Lenalee. Look, can we just drop this, please?"

"So if he wasn't drunk," she continued as if he hadn't spoken, much to Allen's chagrin. "And you knew that he _absolutely_ meant it, would you still push him away?"

Allen threw his head back and covered his face with his hands. "I don't want to talk about this."

"But I do," Lenalee said, grinning. "Come on, Allen! You obviously need to talk to someone about this. It's been eating you up for weeks, hasn't it?"

"Not necessarily 'eating me up,'" Allen said, removing his hands from his face and finally relenting. "But I have been thinking about it, yeah. I just don't know if he, you know. Feels the same way. Ugh, I sound so freaking pathetic."

"It's okay," Lenalee said warmly. "You can talk to me about stuff like this. I'm a girl. It's basically what I'm for." She smiled and flicked his forehead. "You can trust me. I won't tell anyone."

Allen smiled back. "Thanks Lenalee."

"So _that's_ why you were being such a bitch after Halloween," Kanda's voice interrupted from the foot of the stairs. "Stupid rabbit started even more drama. I should have known."

"Kanda!" Allen and Lenalee yelled together.

"What?" Kanda sneered, moving into the living room and standing in front of Allen with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing here?" Allen demanded, blushing furiously.

"I live here," Kanda reminded him with a grimace. "Unfortunately."

"How long have you been…?"

"Standing there?" Kanda smirked. "Long enough. And before you start freaking out, you need to realize that I _do not care_ about any of this. As long as you refrain from annoying me, I'm not going to give you shit or start rumors or any stupid crap like that."

"Kanda," Lenalee said fondly.

"What?" he snapped.

"Nothing," the Chinese girl said, still grinning.

"Anyway," Kanda continued, turning back to Allen. "I don't want to be involved in this at all. This is all your own bullshit. But I will say this. I don't think you should lie to Lavi about this anymore."

"But I don't—" Allen started, but Kanda cut him off.

"I don't want to hear about it. I said what I wanted to say, and now I'm going to go somewhere that isn't here. So." He started to walk away, but stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Lenalee. "And, uh. Break a leg tonight, or whatever."

"Thanks," she said softly.

"Che." He started to turn away, but at that moment Lavi came bounding in through the kitchen door and slammed into him.

"Oof!" the excitable redhead exclaimed, crashing to the floor. "Sorry, Yu!"

"Get the hell out of the way, stupid rabbit," Kanda snarled.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, picking himself up off of the floor with a wince. His single green eye landed on Allen and he grinned. "Hey there neighbor! You hangin' with Kanda?"

"Hell no," Kanda ground out. "I'm leaving." He stormed past Lavi and slammed the back door as he left.

"Well, then, what are you two kids talking about?" He plopped himself on the couch between Allen and Lenalee and grabbed a cupcake from the open box on the coffee table.

"Nothing!" they said together, far too innocently.

Lavi paused in the act of unwrapping a cupcake and eyed them dubiously. "Well, that's not suspicious or anything."

"Nope, not suspicious at all!" Allen agreed uneasily.

"Just talking about opening night." Lenalee lied like a pro. She really _was_ a good actress, Allen decided.

"Yeah?" Lavi said, lighting up. "Oh man, you have no idea how freaking excited I am about that, Lena! I've been telling people about it all day! I even told the cashier at the gas station when I went to fill up the Mustang, but I don't think he cared. He had a glare that could almost rival Kanda's, I swear to God."

"I'm glad you're excited, Lavi," Lenalee said.

"Allen's excited too, aren't ya pal?" Lavi asked, patting the gray-eyed boy's shoulder.

"Of course," Allen agreed.

"You guys are too nice," Lenalee said, pleased. "Anyway, what time is it?"

"'Bout 5:15," Lavi told her, pulling out his cell phone and glancing at its digital clock reading. "Yeah, 5:15."

"Oh man, I have to get to the theatre," Lenalee said, standing up and stretching. "And Allen," she said, winking at him over Lavi's head. "I agree with Kanda."

"What?" Lavi asked, interested.

"But Lenalee," the younger boy protested.

"But nothing," she countered. "Just go for it. You won't know until you try, you know?"

"Go for what?" Lavi demanded.

Allen felt awkward talking about this with Lavi in the room but somehow managed to ignore him, instead staring into the strangely colored eyes of his closest female friend. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Like I said, you won't know until you try." She bent down and picked up a red and white gym bag that had been sitting next to the couch. "But if you want my opinion, I think that it would be a very good idea."

"What's a good idea?" Lavi whined. "Come on guys, don't ignore me."

"I'll think about it," Allen finally said, giving her a small smile. "Thanks, Lenalee."

"No prob, Allen," she said, smiling. "Well, I'm off!"

"Break a leg!" Allen encouraged.

"What are you…oh, yeah!" Lavi said, giving her a double thumbs-up. "We're cheering for ya!"

"Thanks guys," Lenalee said. "Seeya after the show!" And she left the same way Kanda had gone, heading for her car.

"All right," Lavi said, turning toward Allen the moment she was out of sight. "What were you guys talking about just now?"

"Don't worry about it," Allen said.

"No, I _will_ worry about it. That was the most cryptic conversation I've never been a part of, and I'm dying of curiosity here."

"It was between Lenalee and I," Allen said, forcing down his embarrassment. "So don't worry about it."

"Mean," Lavi pouted.

Allen smirked. "Indeed."

"Dude, don't smirk at me. I'm the only one who gets to smirk like that around here," Lavi insisted.

"Uh huh," Allen said. Then he stood up, reached down, and grasped Lavi's wrist. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Lavi wondered, rising. "Somewhere fun? Are we having an adventure?" He looked hopeful.

"You're going to help me rake my yard."

"Hell no," Lavi said, trying to yank his arm back. "Dude, that's so lame."

"I need help with it," Allen explained, holding fast. "And you're always forcing me to do stuff. I think it's about time I returned the favor."

"I do not want this favor returned," Lavi assured him. "You can keep it. I won't be offended."

"Come on," Allen said, pulling the taller boy along.

"If I do this, will you tell me what you and Lenalee were talking about?" Lavi asked, hopeful again.

"Nope," Allen said cheerfully.

"Damn," Lavi cursed. They walked through the front door and out onto the porch. The redhead looked at the piles of leaves Allen had already raked and the copious amount of leaves that still needed to be put into manageable piles. "Shit."

"Don't worry, I have another rake in the garage," the younger boy reassured him.

"Yay," Lavi said dully.

Allen just grinned.

* * *

This was beginning to be a problem, Allen decided.

Everyone seemed to know about his feelings for Lavi. Tyki Mikk. Lenalee. Even _Kanda_. The only person who remained unaware was Lavi himself.

"Thank God for that," Allen muttered.

"What?" Lavi asked. He glanced away from the silver Prius he was tailgating to frown at Allen. "You say somethin'?"

"It was nothing," Allen assured him.

"All right," Lavi said, shrugging. He turned back to focus on the road, somehow pulling even closer to the Prius' back bumper. "You remember what street this flower shop is on?"

"Seventh," Allen replied. "We're going the right way. And do you really need to drive like a maniac? We have plenty of time before the show starts and I really don't feel like getting into an accident today."

"I've never been in an accident in my life," Lavi declared proudly. "I'm a terrific driver."

"I doubt he agrees with you," Allen countered, indicating the driver of the car in front of them, who was glaring at them through his rearview mirror. "If he slams on his brakes suddenly, you won't be able to stop in time."

"He'd better not," Lavi said, scowling. "He hurts my baby and I'll have to hurt him." He patted the steering wheel affectionately.

"But you're the one who—"

"Is that it?" Lavi interrupted, pointing across Allen at a white-and-green shop topped with a big red awning that read _Flowerama._

"I believe so," Allen said, then yelped as Lavi pulled a hard right into the parking lot.

He slammed to a stop across two spaces, one of which was designated as handicapped. "Let's go, sprout! We need to pick the best flowers ever for Lenalee!"

"You can't park here," Allen reprimanded. "Look at this. It's a handicapped spot. You could get a ticket!"

"I never get tickets," Lavi said easily, twirling his keys on their Black Order University lanyard before shoving them into his pocket.

"What if someone needs to use this space but they can't because you're hogging it?"

"There's another one right over there," Lavi said, pointing. "Besides, we aren't going to be in here for very long. We have to be at the theatre in twenty minutes. I usually don't like to cut it this close for time, but raking your stupid yard took forever."

"Because you kept jumping in the leaf piles before I could put them into the garbage bags," Allen said disapprovingly. "And then you pushed me in, too!"

"Aww, come on, it was fun!" Lavi chided with a grin.

It _had_ been fun, but Allen would never admit that.

"Anyway," the redhead continued, walking to the door of the shop and holding it open with a gallant air. "After you."

"Thanks," Allen said, rolling his eyes.

The inside of the shop was like an explosion of colors, petals, and fragrances. Lavi thought the selection was beautiful, but it just made Allen's eyes water as he held in a sneeze.

"So what do you think?" Lavi asked, moving toward the coolers that lined the back of the store. They were filled with pre-cut flowers already arranged in clear, cellophane wrapping and tied with satin bows. "Roses?"

"Roses are nice," Allen agreed.

"I don't really like red ones, though," Lavi said, wrinkling his nose. "They make me think of Valentine's Day."

"What's wrong with Valentine's Day?" Allen wanted to know.

Lavi shot him a rueful smile. "Let's just say that Valentine's Day is a very stressful time for me."

Allen was confused at first, but then he understood. He shuddered a bit, thinking of the one day of the year in which Lavi's stalkers probably came out in force. "I am so sorry for you," he said sincerely.

"Maybe I can hide at your place this February 14th," Lavi said, rubbing his chin. "Do you think they'd look for me there?"

The thought of spending Valentine's Day with Lavi caused Allen's eyes to glaze over a bit, but he tried to shake himself out of it when he noticed his friend looking at him oddly.

"What?" Allen said distractedly.

"Dude, what is with you today? Secret convos with Lena, staring off into space… You okay, little buddy?" Lavi asked with genuine concern.

"Oh, yes!" Allen said, after a slight pause. "I'm fine. Never better!" He capped off his unconvincing reply with a weak chuckle.

"Because if there's something wrong, you know you can tell me," Lavi continued, turning away from the roses and fixing the younger boy with an intense stare. "It's what best friends are for, you know?"

"I know," Allen said, chest constricting a little at the thought of being only Lavi's friend and nothing more. "But I'm fine, really."

"Somehow I don't believe you," Lavi said, stepping closer. "You've been pretty distracted lately. Is something bothering you? Is someone giving you trouble? Do I have to go kick somebody's ass?" Lavi looked around fiercely, as if Allen's imaginary torturer would appear out of nowhere right there in the middle of the shop.

"Calm down," Allen said, sighing in fond exasperation. "I'm fine, really. No one's giving me any trouble. I just have a lot on my plate right now as far as school goes, and I'm a bit distracted by it. That's all."

Lavi looked at him doubtfully but ultimately shrugged and seemed to let it go. "Whatever," he said, turning back toward the flower cases. "I'll find out eventually, you know."

"But I just told you—"

"Some bullshit story you made up on the spot," Lavi finished for him, squinting at a bunch of Tiger Lilies. "Don't worry; it's cool. But like I told you that first day in History class: once I get curious about something, I don't stop until I figure it out."

"Oh." Allen didn't really know what else to say to that. He was hit with the overwhelming realization that, no matter what, Lavi would find about his little crush. It was inevitable. Too many people knew about it already, and if Lavi was really as determined to find out about Allen's incredibly obvious secret as he said he was then it probably wouldn't be much longer…

"You'll tell me when you're ready," Lavi said, grinning warmly at him. "Now." He pulled open the door to one of the coolers and grabbed two bunches of roses. He held them up, giving Allen an excited and expectant look. "Pink or yellow?"

* * *

The show was as good as Allen had expected it to be—maybe even better. The singing was superb from the entire cast, and the boys who played Cogsworth and Lumiere were a riot. Allen was particularly enraptured with Lenalee's performance and believed her portrayal of the character to such an extent that he almost forgot he was watching his friend on a stage instead of a girl named Belle in a castle. The scene near the end where Belle thought that the Beast was dead and cried over him, declaring that she loved him, was so moving that Allen couldn't help but be brought to tears. He sniffed quietly to himself, trying to hide his eyes, and was badly startled when Lavi reached over and squeezed his hand. Allen looked up, embarrassed, but Lavi just gave him his signature grin. Allen briefly locked eyes with Kanda, who sat on the other side of Lavi and had seen the entire exchange. The Japanese boy gave him what Allen decided was his version of significant look, then snorted and turned away.

When the show was finished (to thunderous applause and a standing ovation), Lavi bounded out to the lobby to wait for Lenalee to come up and greet the audience members who chose to stay behind. Ten minutes later she wandered up wearing her street clothes but still in full makeup. She spotted the boys and began to make her way toward them, only to be waylaid by her overenthusiastic brother. He swept her into a hug, crying and babbling so quickly that neither Allen nor Lavi could make out what he was saying. Lenalee just smiled and patted him on the back.

"Thank you, brother," she said. "I'm glad you enjoyed the show."

"You were so beautiful!" Komui was saying, calming himself a bit and wiping furiously at his eyes. "And all of your songs were simply gorgeous!"

"We thought you did a great job too, Lena!" Lavi called. He held out the yellow roses he and Allen had decided on. "These are from all of us!"

"Aww, thanks you guys!" Lenalee said, moving forward and taking the roses from Lavi's hands. "They're beautiful."

Allen expected Komui to go ballistic and wail about how he couldn't allow Lenalee to accept flowers from _boys_, but to his surprise the Chinese man just cast them a knowing look. Allen frowned at Lenalee and she looked away guiltily.

Oh. Wonderful. Now yet _another_ person knew about his feelings for Lavi. And it was Lenalee's crazy brother of all people, whom he barely knew. Yes, this was shaping up to be a complete fiasco.

_Not that it wasn't one already,_ Allen mentally lamented.

"Thank you for coming to support my darling sister," Komui said, giving the trio a little nod.

"Don't mention it!" Lavi said.

"The show really was wonderful, Lenalee," Allen added.

"Yep! Little Allen here even _cried_," Lavi said conspiratorially.

"Really?" Lenalee marveled.

"Like a little bitch," Kanda confirmed, nodding.

"I did not!" Allen said hotly.

Lavi just laughed and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, nothing to be ashamed of, sprout. I was getting a little choked up myself there for a bit. It all has to do with Lenalee's excellent acting skills."

Lenalee beamed and Komui dabbed at his eyes. Kanda just huffed and crossed his arms.

"So, you going to the cast party?" Lavi wanted to know.

"Komui's taking me to a late dinner first, but then yeah, I am," Lenalee replied.

"Well, have fun," Lavi said, pouting a little.

Allen hid a smile. The redhead was still put out because, as a non-theater major (or minor) he wasn't invited to the party.

"Shall we?" Komui said to his sister, checking his watch.

"Sure," Lenalee responded. She smiled at Allen, Lavi, and Kanda and thanked them again for coming to the show.

"Our pleasure," Lavi replied, giving a little bow.

"See you guys later!" Lenalee said, waving at them over her shoulder as she followed her brother out to the parking lot.

"What do you say we crash the cast party?" Lavi said, turning to Allen the minute Lenalee had gone.

The white-haired boy rolled his eyes. "We don't even know most of those people," he pointed out.

"Aww, you're no fun. Kanda, whaddaya say?" Lavi asked, turning toward his angry friend.

"I'm going home," he said flatly. He walked toward the side door to the theatre and was about to pull it open when Lavi called after him, asking if he wanted a ride. "I'll walk," he said, without turning around. The he yanked the door open and was gone.

"Looks like it's just you and me, pal," Lavi said, his arm still around Allen's shoulders.

"Yep," Allen said, secretly pleased.

"Come on. The party doesn't start for like an hour, anyway, if we do decide to crash. Wanna get some food?"

"I'm always up for food," Allen said, patting his stomach.

"I figured!" Lavi laughed. They made their way through the big double doors and down the steps toward the parking lot, but came to an abrupt stop when a girl in a familiar maid's outfit approached them.

"Miss Mimi?" Allen said warily.

The green-haired girl ignored him, focusing all of her attention on Lavi. "Congratulations!" she said, hands on her hips.

"Um, thank you?" Lavi said uncertainly. "For what, exactly?"

"Lulubell has decided that you just might be worth her time after all," Mimi said, as if this was the highest praise the redhead could ever hope to receive.

"She has?" Lavi asked. Allen thought it might just be wishful thinking on his part, but Lavi didn't seem too thrilled with this news.

"Yes she has," Mimi confirmed with a curt nod. "There's a car over there," she said, pointing at a Lincoln Town Car that sat at the curb a few feet away with its engine running. "Get inside of it, and it'll take you to the place that Lulubell wants to meet."

"Oh yeah?" Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is she some sort of secret agent or something? What's with the cloak-and-dagger routine?"

"Does it matter?" Mimi asked, flipping one of her long pigtails over her shoulder. "Just ditch this poser and get in the car."

Oh so he was still a poser, then? Allen just sighed softly.

"No," Lavi said, rubbing his chin. "I don't think I will."

Allen's expression registered surprise, but it was nothing compared to the look on Mimi's face.

"You would decline a direct invitation from Lulubell herself?" she said, her voice full of disbelief.

"Yep!" Lavi said happily. He tightened his grip on Allen, who he had yet to relinquish. "I've already got plans. Tell Lulubell thanks for her consideration, but I'm not interested anymore."

"You do realize you're making the biggest mistake of your life, right?" Mimi inquired, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Biggest mistake of my life?" Lavi repeated, barking a laugh. "Let's not get melodramatic here."

Mimi swiveled on her heel and stormed away without another word. She flung open the back door of the Town car, scrambled in, and slammed it loudly behind her. The car took off quickly, burning rubber as it went.

"You know, that's really bad for your tires," Lavi commented idly. The he shifted his attention back to Allen and continued as of nothing had happened. "Well, where do you want to go? It's only 9:30, so all of the restaurants are still open. What are you hungry for?"

"Did that just happen?" Allen said faintly, still staring in the direction the car had gone.

"Uh, yeah?" Lavi said, turning and following his line of sight. "Why are you acting all shell-shocked about it?"

"Well, it's just that…" Allen trailed off, struggling to understand the situation. "You spurned the company of a beautiful woman in order to hang out with _me_. I just… don't understand that logic, I guess."

"It's pretty simple," Lavi said, dragging Allen toward the Mustang. By this point it was the only car left in the theatre's spacious lot. "You're a lot more fun than Lulubell, for sure. Also, you actually, oh, I don't know. _Smile._" Lavi gave him a little shake before continuing. "Plus, I didn't like the way that maid chick was talking to me. Like Lulubell was some queen and I needed to bow at her feet. Yeah right."

"That was pretty condescending," Allen agreed.

"Plus plus," Lavi said, digging his keys out of his pocket. "She called you a poser. Not cool, man. Nobody talks to my little buddy like that."

"Aww," Allen said, holding a hand over his heart and rolling his eyes. "My hero!"

"Heh," Lavi said. He finally released Allen to open the driver's side door and slid behind the wheel. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Allen said, getting into the car as well.

"Are you allergic to cranberries?" Lavi asked randomly as the car roared to life.

"Um, no," Allen answered. "Why?"

"Thanksgiving, man!" Lavi said, nudging him with his elbow. "It's on Thursday, you know. Gotta know what's okay to serve and what isn't. Don't want you having some sort of reaction and having to rush off to the ER. That would suck."

"Oh yeah, Thanksgiving," Allen said, a pleased blush creeping onto his face as he remembered Lavi's invitation to join his family's festivities. "Well, I'm not allergic to anything, so don't worry."

"Sweet," Lavi said, pulling out of the parking lot and driving toward State Street, where most of the good restaurants in town were.

"Do I need to bring anything?" Allen wanted to know. "Like, a pie or something?"

"You can if you want to," Lavi said, turning to smile at him. "But all you _really_ need to bring is yourself. That'll be more than enough."

Allen hummed in acknowledgement and leaned back in his seat, thinking about his conversation with Lenalee earlier that day. He finally concluded that maybe—just maybe—she was right. He wouldn't know if Lavi returned his feelings unless he asked him. The signals he'd been getting from the taller boy lately were a tad mixed, but his rejection of Lulubell tonight had sparked a little flame of hope deep in Allen's chest. He didn't want to lose his friendship with Lavi, and if he broached this subject with him Allen knew that there would be no going back to the way things had been. Still, his relationship with Lavi hadn't been purely a friendship since that Halloween night anyway. The white-haired boy had known that for some time now; he'd simply been too reluctant and scared to admit it to himself. Now, however…

He glanced shyly at Lavi's profile as the redhead began to chat animatedly about one thing or another. Allen was only half listening as he came to a heart-pounding decision.

It was finally time to tell Lavi the truth.

* * *

Random Bak Chan cameo? I think yes! I love him to death, but I don't think I have a very good grasp on his character yet, so I couldn't give him a bigger role. :( Oh well. Next chapter is Thanksgiving and the big confession! Aren't you just excited? I know I am!


	16. Giving Thanks

Well. Here it is. The last chapter.

I'm sorry it took so long for me to get it out again, you guys. I have a bunch of excuses (my computer died again, I have finals, it was the holidays, etc.) but the biggest reason it took so long was that I was having a really hard time writing it. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but the words just wouldn't come. I'm finally pretty satisfied with what I have now, so I hope that you guys are too. I'll talk about possible sequel stuff at the end of the chapter. Don't want to ramble on too long just yet.

I hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-man.

* * *

It was very frustrating, Allen decided. And, ultimately, quite anticlimactic.

The white-haired boy had been ready to pour his heart out to Lavi right there in the car as they drove to the restaurant, but the redhead _would_ _not stop talking_. Allen was so busy psyching himself up and waiting for his friend to pause for breath so he could interject that he didn't even listen to whatever it was Lavi was chattering on about. Unfortunately, they pulled into the parking lot of a place called _Number 65_ before Allen could get a word in edgewise. They spent the meal talking about other things—mostly Lavi's increasingly elaborate plans to crash the _Beauty and the Beast_ cast party—as Allen had no desire to discuss something so private in such a public place.

"So whaddaya think, Sprout?" Lavi asked as they finished the last of their dessert.

"Hmm?" Allen said around a mouthful of strawberry cheesecake. "Wha'?"

"Dude, don't talk with your mouth full," Lavi chided.

Allen swallowed quickly and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's all good," Lavi said, grinning. "So, what do you think? Do we crash this party those losers were lame enough not to invite us to or what?"

"You can," Allen said, setting his fork down. "I'm feeling kind of tired. I think I want to go home." _Maybe I can get Lavi to take me home, and then I can lure him into my house in order to execute my plan_, Allen thought critically.

"What?" Lavi said in disbelief. "It's only 10:15! On a Friday, even! How old are you, eighty?"

"Shut up!" Allen said defensively. "And why do you want to go to this party anyway? You're not even in the theatre department!"

"I want to go to every party," Lavi explained. "Especially ones I haven't been invited to."

"You're insane," Allen said, shaking his head. "But whatever. Do as you like. Just take me home first?"

"No can do, little buddy. Sorry." But his grin was anything but apologetic.

"Why not?" Allen demanded.

"Because," Lavi said simply. At that point the waiter came to their table and dropped off the check. Lavi thanked him and took it before Allen could even think about reaching for it. He glanced at it quickly, dug his wallet out of his pocket, and slid out his credit card. He placed the bill and the card at the edge of the table, and the waiter came and took them both away.

Allen watched these events unfold with a growing frown. "What are you doing?"

"What?" Lavi asked, tilting his head in question.

"Are you paying for my food?"

"Yep!" the taller boy said brightly.

"Why?"

"Because I have a job and you don't," Lavi said easily. "I have more disposable income."

"I have money," Allen said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his worn leather wallet.

"Keep it."

"But—"

"Here you are, sir," the waiter said politely, handing Lavi his card. "If you'll just sign this top copy; the one on the bottom is yours. Thank you for stopping in this evening."

"Thank you," Lavi said, writing in a—rather generous, in Allen's opinion—tip and scribbling his name on the small slip of paper. He stood and stretched, looking down at Allen with a grin. "Let's go, pal. I bet that party's starting soon, and we still have to steal hats from Domino's!"

Allen rolled his eyes and stood as well. "Lavi, I refuse to pretend to be a pizza delivery boy. If you want to go to the party so badly, why don't you just go? Lenalee will welcome you, surely." He followed the taller boy as they wove between the other tables and booths on their way to the front of the restaurant.

"What's with all of this 'you' stuff, huh?" Lavi asked, opening the front door and zipping his jacket against the late November chill. "You know you're coming too."

"But Lavi," Allen whined.

"But Lavi nothing," Lavi said dismissively. "Come on, beansprout. It'll be a blast!"

"My name is Allen," Allen grouched. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he realized that, at the moment, Lavi was much too hyper to sit down and have a serious conversation with him about relationships and feelings and other equally serious things. He'd have to corner him at a later date. Lavi would calm down eventually, right?

He glanced at the redhead, who was currently doing a cartwheel across the parking lot as he sang the chorus to "Be Our Guest" in a terrible impression of a Russian accent (for some reason), and grimaced. He had a feeling that this whole thing was going to be a lot more complicated than he'd originally thought.

Then again, life with Lavi always was.

* * *

This was just getting ridiculous.

It had been nearly a week since Allen's resolution to admit his feelings to Lavi, and the infuriating redhead had thwarted him at nearly every turn. Unknowingly, of course, but still. At this point Allen was nearly tearing his hair out in frustration.

In the days following the ridiculous cast party—at which Lavi made many new friends and fans while Allen sulked in the corner eating pretzels—Lavi had claimed to be far too busy to hang out with him.

"Sorry pal," Lavi had said as he rushed past Allen on the sidewalk that Monday afternoon. "I have three papers due before Thanksgiving break and they've doubled my hours at the library. I'll see you on Thursday, okay? Make sure to wear something nice!"

And now it was Thursday, Thanksgiving Day to be precise, and Allen was struggling with the cuffs of his pressed white button-down shirt and cursing Lavi Bookman to hell.

"Stupid Lavi," Allen grumbled, trying and failing to do up the tiny buttons at his wrists. "Why can't he just sit still for one second and _listen_?"

Even though Lavi had said that dinner wasn't until eight-thirty, Allen thought he'd take the opportunity early that morning to try on the outfit he was planning to wear to make sure it still fit him correctly. He didn't often have occasion to "get all spiffed up" as Mana used to say (Allen's heart twinged painfully at that passing thought before he carefully brushed it aside) so he didn't own many articles of clothing that could be considered "nice." He was actually wearing the same outfit he'd worn under his high school graduation robe, but nobody needed to know that.

He was still grumbling under his breath about stupid buttons and even stupider neighbors when Allen heard his front door slam open. Confused as to who could possibly be visiting him so early on a holiday morning, he stopped what he was doing to listen to the quick, heavy footsteps of someone bounding up the stairs. His bedroom door flung open and Lavi galloped in, grinning from ear to ear.

"Neighbor!" he cried, slamming into Allen with an exuberant hug. "Happy Thanksgiving, dude!"

"Uh, yeah," Allen said, patting Lavi's back a little awkwardly. "You too."

"Oh man, you have no idea how freaking excited I am that you're coming with me to Gramps' place today," Lavi continued, pulling away to ruffle the shorter boy's hair. He took a step back and regarded Allen with his head cocked slightly to the left. "You look great!" he finally concluded.

"Oh, thanks," Allen said, looking down bashfully.

"Having trouble?" Lavi asked, indicating the stubborn buttons on Allen's cuff.

"A bit," he admitted. "It's hard to do with one hand."

"I feel ya, man," Lavi said, waving around his own sleeve. "I was having a major issue this morning. And Yu and Lenalee went home yesterday so I didn't even have anyone to help me." He pouted a bit.

"I would have helped you," Allen pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, dude, I know you would've," Lavi agreed. "It's just that I got up really early this morning and you were still sleeping. Didn't wanna wake you up."

"How do you know I was sleeping?" Allen wanted to know.

"Your curtains were closed," Lavi said, pointing at the now-uncovered window.

"Oh," Allen said, a little surprised that Lavi had noticed something like that.

"Yeah. Now, let me give you a hand with that." And Lavi seized his wrist and fastened the buttons without waiting for Allen's reply.

"Thanks," Allen said, enjoying the redhead's closeness.

"No prob," Lavi said distractedly. When he was finished, he stood back and surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction. "There! White looks good on you," he said sincerely. "Goes with your hair."

"Oh," Allen said again, tugging on a lock of his hair before tucking it behind his ear. "Thanks." He took note of Lavi's sage green button-up, which was tucked into his slate gray dress pants, and offered him a shy smile. "You look good too."

"Aww," Lavi said, grinning. "Thanks dude! 'Course, I always look hot, so that's nothing new."

"Humble as ever," Allen mumbled. Lavi just snickered. "So what are you doing here? I thought you said dinner was at eight-thirty?" He glanced at the clock on his wall, which read 8:57 AM, and raised an eyebrow. "You're about twelve hours early, aren't you?"

"Change of plans," Lavi said, scratching the back of his neck. "Gramps just called and said that he's having the food delivered at noon instead, so it'll be more like Thanksgiving _lunch_ instead of Thanksgiving dinner. Hope you don't mind."

"That's fine. Why'd he change it, I wonder?" Allen frowned thoughtfully before adding, "Also, delivered? Don't families usually make Thanksgiving dinner themselves?"

"Yeah, well, Gramps can't cook for shit," Lavi said, chuckling. "Neither can I, for that matter. We always order the food from this local catering company. They give us a good discount because the owners are University alumni, and the food's always really good! They put this really delicious whipped cream on their pumpkin pies…" he trailed off dreamily.

"If you're going to drool," Allen said, after a moment of silence. "Please don't do it on my carpet."

"Huh?" Lavi said, blinking. "Oh, whoops! Got a little distracted there."

"Uh huh," Allen said, smirking.

"Anyway," Lavi said, giving the white-haired boy a playful shove. "I don't know why Gramps changed the timeframe on us. He was being pretty mysterious about the whole thing, which is never a good sign."

"Should we be worried?" Allen asked, apprehensive. He'd never met the Chancellor before, and he was really hoping to make a good impression today. Not only was this man Lavi's grandfather, he was also the person who had authorized Allen's academic scholarship and had allowed him to live off campus as a freshman.

"Nah," Lavi said, waving a dismissive hand. "Gramps just likes to mess with me, I think. Revenge for all the times I've messed with _him_, probably."

Allen grinned. "All right. But even if din—well, lunch, isn't until noon, why are you here now?"

"Don't you want me here?" Lavi said, giving a dramatic, obviously fake sniff. "I was gonna take you to Gramps' early, give you a tour and then maybe watch a little bit of the parade on TV. But if you don't like spending time with me…"

"Oh, get over yourself," Allen huffed, crossing his arms.

"Never!" Lavi crowed, grinning like an idiot.

"You are a ridiculous person," Allen said, shaking his head.

"And by 'ridiculous' you mean 'awesome', right?"

"Nope."

"What? Mean!"

Allen just smiled. "Are we going or aren't we?"

"Yeah yeah," Lavi said. He was still pouting a bit, and it was probably the most adorable thing Allen had ever seen.

They made their way out into the hallway and down the stairs. Lavi's good mood returned almost immediately, and Allen grinned as the redhead jumped the last few steps and spun on the balls of his feet.

"Hey beansprout," he said, walking backward through Allen's living room in order to maintain eye-contact with the object of his teasing. "I bet you don't know what—"

"Lavi, look out!" Allen interrupted.

But it was too late. Lavi tripped backward over the coffee table he hadn't realized was behind him and went sprawling to the floor. _An Introduction to Psychology: a Contemporary Approach_, a yellow notebook, four different-colored highlighters, and a half-full can of Pepsi that had been abandoned when Allen decided to give up studying the night before also fell to the ground in a jumbled mess. Allen watched in dismay as the Pepsi seeped into his rug.

"Ow," Lavi said weakly as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"Are you okay?" Allen asked, moving to help him up.

"I'm good," Lavi said blearily. "Since when has that coffee table been there?"

"Since always," Allen said crossly. "And now look what you've done, you delinquent."

"What?" Lavi demanded.

Allen pointed at the damp, steadily-widening spot on the rug as the can continued to leak sluggishly.

"Gah!" Lavi exclaimed. "Oh no, I wrecked your rug! Here, here, let me fix it!" He dashed over and righted the can, then proceeded to tear some blank pages out of the yellow notebook and attempt to use them to soak up the spill.

"There are paper towels in the kitchen," Allen informed him, amused. He wasn't too worried about the rug, as it hadn't been special to him or anything. In fact, he's picked it up at a garage sale for twelve dollars, which was actually a pretty good deal for an area rug, now that he really thought about it. Having a large brown spot on it was bound to annoy someone like Allen (who tended toward what Lavi referred to as "clean-freak behavior"). Still, it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as Lavi was making it out to be.

This, of course, made the whole display rather hilarious, in Allen's opinion.

"Oh, right, of course! Here." He thrust the sodden mess of paper into Allen's hands and darted into the kitchen. The white-haired boy could hear him opening cupboards and drawers and rummaging noisily. "Where are do you keep the damn paper towels, sprout?"

"It's Allen," Allen said calmly. "And they're in the cupboard under the sink."

"Gotcha," Lavi said. Allen sighed and sank to his knees, dabbing at the spot with the damp notebook paper and wondering idly if college-ruled was any more absorbent than wide-ruled. He thought probably not.

It was then that Allen realized that perhaps his chance had finally come. He was alone with Lavi for the first time in nearly a week, and they had a bit of time to kill before they were expected at his grandfather's. He wasn't sure if he should say anything today, in case Lavi rejected him—Allen's head spun for a moment at that thought before he was able to collect himself—and the whole holiday was ruined. Perhaps he could try to delicately broach the subject, maybe drop a hint or two to gauge his reaction…?

He looked up with a frown when he realized that Lavi had been silent for a solid minute, which was probably a new world record for the redhead.

"You alive in there?" Allen called, wrinkling his nose at the wet paper as it began to tear. "Notebook paper isn't exactly known for its absorbency, Lavi." After about thirty seconds of still more silence, Allen called out again. "Lavi?"

There was a shuffling, as if the redhead had given a start at the sound of his name, followed by the dull clink of what sounded to Allen like glass. Lavi appeared in the entrance to the room with a roll of paper towels in his hands, but he made no move to give them to Allen. Instead, he stared at the shorter boy as if he were a particularly difficult puzzle that Lavi was intent on solving.

"Um, hello?" Allen asked.

"Here," Lavi said faintly, tossing the roll to Allen. "I found them."

"You okay?" Allen inquired, worried.

"I don't know," Lavi said, tearing his gaze from Allen and shaking his head. "I'm not sure."

"What happened?" Allen demanded. "Did you hit your head when you fell? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"No, it's nothing like that," Lavi said distantly. "We should go."

"Lavi, I…" Allen began. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, exactly. He was starting to think that maybe the confession really _would_ have to wait, now that Lavi was suddenly acting like a space cadet.

"Yes, Allen?" Lavi said seriously, leveling him with a searching stare.

"Um, never mind," Allen said, unnerved by the intensity in Lavi's single green eye. "You sure you're not hurt?"

"Uh huh," Lavi said, looking away. "We should go."

"Right." Allen trailed after him as he led the way to his Mustang, frowning worriedly at his back.

* * *

Lavi's grandfather's house was a stately Tudor that sat on the very edge of campus—near the administrative buildings and away from the majority of the much shabbier student housing. A large granite plaque on the front lawn declared it to be the _Chancellor's Mansion._ Allen felt a little intimidated by the ornate architecture, but Lavi just calmly pulled the Mustang into the curvy driveway as if he visited fancy estates every day.

"This is it," Lavi said, in that same subdued tone he'd adopted back at Allen's house. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

"Yes, it is," Allen replied. He frowned a bit, leaning toward the taller boy in concern. "Lavi, are you sure you're all right?"

"Hmm?" Lavi said, looking at Allen but not really meeting his gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're acting a little strangely," Allen murmured.

"I don't think so," Lavi said distantly. "Come on. Let's go inside, 'kay?"

"Okay," Allen agreed, still frowning. He opened the car door and slid out, his feet crunching a few fallen leaves that skittered across the driveway as they were carried by the crisp November breeze. The two of them trekked up the winding walk and climbed the short flight of stairs onto the sweeping front-porch. Allen waited for Lavi to ring the doorbell, but the redhead just turned the knob on the front door and let himself inside. Allen followed warily.

Inside it was just as beautiful as it was outside. The floors were all a dark hardwood, polished to a slightly slippery shine. The walls were papered in intricate patterns or painted in rich tones of burgundy and gold. A spiral staircase stood off to the left, its mahogany banister gleaming in the light from the chandelier. To the right, an elaborate archway led off into some other room Allen had yet to identify. Looking around at the general splendor, he decided that if he hadn't been intimidated before, he certainly was now.

"He's probably through here," Lavi said vaguely, wandering toward the archway. Allen made to follow, but stopped short when Lavi suddenly went flying backward and crashed into the wall.

"Don't you knock?" an irritated old voice demanded.

"What the hell is wrong with you, ya crazy geezer?" Lavi snapped, sitting up and rubbing his head where it had collided with the wall. Allen was pleased to note that the spacey attitude from earlier had gone, though he was a bit disturbed that this was the second time today that Lavi had gone sprawling.

"I won't have you just barging in here like you own the place," the voice retorted. Its owner stepped into the room, and Allen realized that this must be Lavi's grandfather. The old man was a lot shorter than Allen had expected, shorter even than Allen himself, and what little hair he had left was pulled up into a strange-looking pony-tail at the top of his head. He shuffled over to Lavi—who was still slumped on the floor—and glared. "Stupid brat."

"Mean old panda," Lavi grumbled. "You didn't have to hit me, you know."

"I didn't hit you, I kicked you," the man sniffed. "Don't you know the difference?"

"It's the same thing!"

"No it is _not_!"

"Um, hello," Allen interjected, raising a timid hand in greeting.

The old man turned and eyed him critically. "So, you're Allen Walker, are you?"

"Yes sir," the white-haired boy said politely. "Pleased to meet you, Chancellor." He held out his hand, which the Chancellor shook firmly.

"You can just call me Bookman," he replied.

"Okay," Allen said, smiling.

"You're a very well-mannered boy," Bookman said approvingly. "Stupid grandson," he barked, rounding on Lavi, who was still on the floor. "Get up you lazy thing."

"All right already," Lavi griped, grabbing onto a nearby coat rack and pulling himself up with a wince.

"I'd hoped that some of this boy's politeness would rub off on you, seeing how much time you spend with him. But you're still as disrespectful as ever. Now get your ass in here and help me set the table." He spun on his heel and stalked back through the archway.

"Love you too, Gramps," Lavi sighed.

"He seems, um…" Allen trailed off.

"Like a crazy old coot?" Lavi supplied.

"I was going to say 'interesting,'" Allen insisted.

"Always the diplomat, ain'tcha?" Lavi said fondly. He reached out to ruffle the shorter boy's hair but stopped halfway; his hand hung in the air for a moment before dropping back down to his side. He was looking at Allen with that intense stare again, like he was trying to figure something out that was_ just_ beyond his comprehension.

"Lavi?" Allen asked, concerned.

"Come on," Lavi said, the distant tone creeping back into his voice. "Better go help Gramps before he decides to kick me through the wall." He sidled through the archway with a thoughtful look on his face, Allen following closely behind.

The dining room was magnificent. The polished wooden table was large enough to seat twelve people comfortably, and the complicated carving on its legs and chairs was obviously done by a skilled hand. A long, glass-fronted china hutch lined the far wall. It was filled with long-stemmed wine glasses, porcelain serving bowls and trays, silver utensils of every kind, and other delicate pieces of colored glassware. It was all so fancy that Allen was terrified to touch anything.

"Hey, give me a hand with this, willya?" Lavi asked quietly, holding up a crisp white tablecloth.

"Sure," Allen replied, moving forward to grasp a corner.

"How inconsiderate of you," Bookman admonished, whacking Lavi on the head with a wooden spoon. "He is a guest."

"Ow," Lavi muttered.

"It's okay, really," Allen said, taking up the tablecloth Lavi had dropped in favor of rubbing his head. "I can help."

"So thoughtful," Bookman said, nodding sharply. "What are you doing, boy?" he demanded, turning to Lavi. "Don't just stand there." He whacked him with the spoon again, smirking in satisfaction when the redhead whimpered. "It's just a spoon. It doesn't hurt that badly."

"Says you," Lavi pouted.

Allen didn't know whether to be disturbed by this clearly dysfunctional relationship or to giggle madly at their antics. He decided upon the latter. He had, after all, spent the majority of his formative years with Cross. That was enough to warp anyone's perception of familial interaction.

"Neighbor!" Lavi whined, turning the full force of his pout on Allen, which only caused him to giggle harder. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Sorry, Lavi," Allen said, grinning. "It's just funny for me to see someone who can consistently get the better of you."

"Mean," Lavi said, snatching the tablecloth away from him and spreading it over the table. Allen just chuckled and began setting out the plates and utensils when he realized that he was setting places for four people.

"Is someone else coming?" he asked, turning to Lavi inquisitively. He found the redhead gazing at him with his head tilted to the left in thought, his right hand in his pocket. "Um, Lavi?"

"Huh?" he said, shaking his head. "What did you say?"

"I asked if someone else was coming," Allen explained, indicating the extra place-setting.

Lavi frowned in confusion. "Not that I know of. Hey Gramps!"

"What?" Bookman answered from the next room.

"Is someone else coming?" Lavi wanted to know.

"Yes," Bookman said flatly, coming into the room to inspect their work. "He should be here soon. It's why I had to move the delivery time for the food to earlier in the day. He apparently has somewhere to be tonight. Such a troublesome man," Bookman said, shaking his head.

"Who is it?" Lavi wanted to know.

The doorbell rang.

"That's probably him now," Bookman said. "What perfect timing."

"That's kind of freaky, actually," Lavi muttered.

"Go answer the door," Bookman commanded, nudging Lavi a little.

"All right, I'm going," Lavi said. His curiosity apparently overwhelmed his annoyance, however, as he left without further complaint.

"He's not very happy with you, you know," Bookman said quietly.

"Sir?" Allen said curiously. "Lavi is angry with me?" It would explain the redhead's strange behavior, but Allen couldn't think of what he'd possibly done to annoy his friend.

"Not him," Bookman said dismissively. "Although that boy has been acting a little oddly today." He threw Allen a suspicious glance.

"Then who are you—"

"No freaking WAY!" Lavi shouted from the foyer.

"Is that any way to greet a guest?" answered a horribly familiar baritone.

Allen turned to gape at Bookman, clearly frightened. "You invited _him_?"

"Of course," Bookman said easily. "We've known each other for years."

"How?" Allen demanded.

"Brat!" Cross Marian bellowed, stomping into the dining room.

"Master," Allen groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Thought you'd have Thanksgiving without me, did you?"

"You hate Thanksgiving."

"Prove it," Cross said. "It's the time of year to spend with the people you care about, or whatever. You can't just ditch me, you ungrateful brat."

"Master, you don't care about people. The only things you care about are your truck and your gun."

"Yeah," Cross sighed, plopping down in a chair and putting his dirty boots up on the clean white tablecloth. Lavi, who'd followed him into the room with a look of distinct horror on his face, made an indignant sound. "Well. This old geezer wouldn't let me drive Maria into the dining room."

"For obvious reasons," Bookman muttered.

"But I did bring Judgment along!" he said happily, pulling the gun out of the pocket of his black trench coat and setting it on the table. Lavi eyed it warily. Allen just sighed.

Then Lavi shook himself and rounded on his grandfather, scowling. "What the _hell,_ Gramps? Why did you do this?"

"Well, when you told me about the encounter you had with Allen's godfather, I thought the man you described sounded awfully familiar. Then of course you said his name was Cross Marian and I knew it was the same man I'd known years ago."

"You know each other?" Lavi and Allen said together. "How?"

"We both worked at Rose Cross College, one of Black Order University's sister schools," Bookman explained.

"That place was a dump," Cross put in, making a big show of patting his pockets as he looked for something.

"No smoking in here," Bookman said imperiously. Cross stopped his search, grumbling. "Anyway, we were both faculty there about ten years ago."

"Before I took your ungrateful ass in," Cross said to Allen.

"Oh," Lavi and Allen said, again in unison.

"I thought it might be nice for Allen to have some family this holiday as well," Bookman said innocently. But there was an amused light in his eyes that Allen was highly suspicious of.

"Plus, I get free food," Cross added.

"This sucks," Lavi griped.

They all spent an awkward hour loitering in the formal sitting room while they waited for the food to arrive. Cross and Allen spent most of their time arguing about bills, funds, and Allen's scholarship money and how Cross wasn't allowed to use it to buy wine. The disagreement culminated in Cross withdrawing a mallet from an inside pocket of his trench coat and raising it threateningly until Allen abandoned his argument and hid behind the sofa. Bookman sat in a richly upholstered armchair and pretended to be disinterested, but Allen caught him snickering into his rather voluminous sleeve on more than one occasion. Lavi spent the entire time staring thoughtfully at Allen, even when the white-haired boy was cowering behind the couch. It was so conspicuous that Cross just had to comment on it.

"You sure you don't have a crush on my godson?" he said abruptly, snapping Lavi out of his torpor.

"Eh?" the younger redhead said intelligently.

"You've been staring at him for an hour," Cross said pointedly.

"N-no I haven't," Lavi said, looking around shiftily.

Allen, who had finally deemed it safe to begin creeping out from behind the sofa, blushed and ducked behind it again.

"Uh huh," Cross said, smirking.

Lavi cast a somewhat frightened glance at Bookman, who merely raised a curious eyebrow.

The doorbell rang.

"Oh, that must be the food!" Lavi said, jumping up from his seat with a relieved smile. "I'll get the door, okay?" And he scampered off.

When Allen crawled out from behind the couch, he found himself on the receiving end of two equally suspicious stares. He blushed again before innocently inquiring "wh-what?"

"I knew it," Cross said gruffly. Bookman just smirked again.

"Huh?"

"Hey Gramps?" Lavi called. "Wanna come tell these guys where to put all of this stuff?"

Bookman slid out of the chair, cast one last glance at Allen, and made his way into the dining room—presumably to yell at Lavi some more. Allen was left alone with Cross, who fixed him with an unimpressed stare.

"What?" Allen said again.

Cross just shook his head. "Let's go get some of that food. Wonder if the old geezer has any Merlot?"

When Allen walked into the dining room, it was all he could do not to gasp like an idiot. Piled onto the dining room table was a ridiculous amount of food for only four people. The turkey sat in the middle of the table, its golden skin tearing only a little as a caterer in a tall white chef's hat carved it expertly. A large bowl of mashed potatoes sat to the turkey's left, steaming. Other dishes full of stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, and other Thanksgiving staples were scattered around the tabletop. The caterer finished carving the turkey and laid the cut pieces on a silver serving tray just as another one set down a wicker basket filled with soft, white rolls. They nodded to Bookman, who signed the slip of paper they held out to him, and wished them all a "Happy Thanksgiving."

"Mmm!" Lavi said happily, sliding into a seat. "They really outdid themselves this year!"

"I don't think I've ever seen so much food in one place," Allen commented, taking a place next to Lavi and across from Cross.

"I told them you were coming," Lavi teased. "And that we'd need about twice as much food as usual to keep up with your appetite."

"Hey!" Allen said indignantly.

Lavi just chuckled and reached for the nearest dish. Allen was happy to see that the redhead was finally acting like himself again.

"Wait a minute," Allen said, as everyone else began serving themselves. They all stopped and looked up at him, expressions ranging from curious (Lavi) to annoyed (Cross). "Isn't this the part where we all go around the table and say what we're most thankful for?" Allen queried.

"Jesus Christ, what are you? A woman?" Cross said, exasperated. "I refuse to participate in some stupid, Hallmark card shit like _that_."

"We don't really do that here," Lavi said apologetically. "But I guess we could start if you want—"

"No," Cross and Bookman said flatly.

And they left it at that.

The dinner itself was really rather nice. At least, Allen thought so. He could have gone without Cross' presence, but actually being around other people for the holidays put him in a cheerful mood nonetheless. He wasn't even aware of the huge grin on his face as he helped himself to more food than could technically fit on his plate until Lavi pointed it out to him. Lavi's own smile was weak at best, so Allen gave him an encouraging nod and started babbling about their history class in order to get Lavi to cheer up and actually engage in some conversation. Which he did, slowly shedding whatever melancholy he'd picked up that morning until he was joking and laughing like always. Allen's smile got a bit brighter after that.

Once all of the food was consumed, Cross and Bookman remained at the table, arguing about one thing or another. Allen wasn't really listening, as his focus was already divided between Lavi, his returning resolve to confess his feelings, his pounding heart, and the nervous queasiness rising in his stomach.

"Come on, Allen," Lavi said to him cheerfully. "Let's let these old guys talk about politics or whatever. I never got to give you that tour!"

"Oh, right," Allen answered. He and Lavi rose from the table, drawing the attention of the men across from them. "Might we please be excused?" he said politely.

"But of course," Bookman replied, just as politely, with a small nod.

"Priss," Cross snorted.

"Why you—!" Allen began indignantly.

"Come on, Sprout," Lavi interrupted and pulled him out of the room.

"That man…" Allen growled as Lavi dragged him out into the hallway.

"He's something, all right," Lavi agreed. He had his hand in his right pocket again, and Allen could see him fiddling with whatever was in there almost nervously.

"So where are we going?" Allen wanted to know.

"This place is huge," Lavi said, starting forward. "I'll show you all of the rooms. Gramps has some really cool old stuff around here."

"Okay," Allen agreed.

Bookman really did have a lot of interesting things filling many of his unused rooms. There were at least three libraries, each filled with many old, obscure books. Lavi explained that a lot of them were first editions and actually worth quite a bit of money. A lot of the extra bedrooms were used to store things that Lavi had owned as a child. Allen saw—among other things—the poster board for Lavi's third grade science fair project ("I got first place, of course," Lavi had boasted), his first tricycle ("Ran that into the back of old Mrs. Norville's leg when I was three—she wasn't too happy"), and a dusty, leather-bound photo album that was by far Allen's favorite find. It was filled with pictures of Lavi as a child, smiling happily at the camera. Allen got to see Lavi's parents (he noticed that the redhead looked a lot like his father) but the most striking thing about them was seeing Lavi without his signature eye patch. Allen really wanted to keep one of the photos but thought it would be weird to ask, so he wistfully closed the album and slid it back onto the wobbly old bookshelf he'd found it on.

After wandering around for a while longer, Lavi led him to a small TV room on the third floor.

"What's in here?" Allen asked, looking around.

"I bet it's probably too late to watch the parade, but let's see if we can catch the end," Lavi said, plopping down on the brown leather couch that sat in front of the large TV on the wall. "Stupid Panda just _had_ to make me miss it this year," he grumbled. He pressed a button on the remote and the TV hummed to life.

Allen walked over and sank slowly onto the couch next to the redhead as he flicked through the channels before finally settling on a broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

"Oh sweet, it's still on!" Lavi said excitedly as he watched a marching band from Oklahoma strut past on the screen.

"That's good," Allen said quietly.

Lavi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the parade. Allen sat very still, breathing slowly and collecting his thoughts. After all of this time—after all of the stress and uncertainty, the planning and confusion—the moment was finally upon him. He had built his resolve. He would be firm. He would tell Lavi how he felt about him or he'd die trying.

Well, maybe that was a bit dramatic. But Allen was determined nonetheless.

"Hey Lavi?" he said at length, reflexively curling his hands into fists.

Beside him, he thought he felt Lavi stiffen. "What's up, neighbor?" he said calmly.

"Um, I uh…" Allen said, his mouth going dry. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I wanted to, um, talk to you. About, uh, you know. Something."

Lavi muted the TV and turned to face him. That intense, unreadable look was in his eye again, but Allen refused to be daunted this time.

"I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about, too," Lavi said, tilting his head a bit.

Oh hell no. Lavi was _not_ going to change the subject on him now.

"Me first," Allen insisted.

Lavi looked a bit surprised, but then he smiled softly and nodded. "All right then, you first."

"I just wanted to say that…uh…well…"

"Yeah?"

"Um." Allen valiantly fought the blush creeping up his face as he unclenched his fists and twisted his hands in his lap.

Lavi's smile turned a bit bemused as Allen just sort of sat there. "Hello?"

"Huh?" Allen said, looking up into Lavi's green eye. "Uh, yeah, I'm here. Sorry."

"That's okay," Lavi replied.

"So you know how we're best friends?" Allen blurted.

"Best friends?" Lavi repeated softly.

"Yeah," Allen said. "Well, I just wanted to say that, um, I really value you, Lavi. Really. You're the only person I've ever felt like I can connect with. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"As friends," Lavi said lowly, as if he was confirming a suspicion.

"Yeah," Allen agreed. "But, Lavi, what I really wanted to—"

"It's okay Allen," Lavi said, interrupting. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and handed the small object that had been inside it to the white-haired boy. Allen frowned as he took it. It was small, blue, and round, and when Allen turned it over in his hands he saw the words _Bombay Sapphire_ printed on it in elegant script. It was the cap to the bottle of gin Allen had taken from Lavi on Halloween.

"Where—?"

"I found the bottle under your sink when I went to look for paper towels earlier this morning," Lavi explained. "I'm pretty sure I know where you got it, Allen."

Lavi's earlier behavior was beginning to make sense now. Allen gave him a helpless look and opened his mouth to explain, but Lavi cut him off.

"This is from Halloween, isn't it?" Lavi asked, still smiling softly. "It all makes sense now. God, I'm such an idiot. The way you were acting right after the party, avoiding me, the way you've been sort of skittish around me lately. I hit on you, didn't I?"

Allen nodded slowly, then opened his mouth to say something, _anything_, to let Lavi know how he really felt about this situation, but the older boy—once again—_would not stop talking_.

"I'm such an idiot," Lavi repeated, scrubbing at his eye with his left hand. "It had to have been something really bad; otherwise you would've just thought it was a joke. Did I try to kiss you? Oh God, I bet I tried to kiss you. I can't believe I would…and then you were probably so weirded out…and then of course the way I've been…ugh! Well. I know that you just want to be friends, Allen. I mean, I should have known all along that… It's just that … and I shouldn't have… God, I knew it would be like this, so why did I…?"

Through his disjointed ramblings, Allen could see Lavi's genuine distress. And was that _sadness_ in his emerald eye? Well, that simply wouldn't do.

In a moment of what Allen would later insist was temporary insanity, he pulled Lavi's hands away from his face and softly pressed his lips to the taller boy's own. He pulled away and found Lavi staring at him in shock. Allen offered him an awkward smile that quickly morphed into a horrified wince when Lavi continued to stare at him without saying anything.

"Oh no!" Allen groaned, smacking himself on the forehead. "Should I not have done that? I mean, of course I shouldn't have done that, because you wouldn't have wanted, um, crap…"

Then Lavi started laughing, effectively silencing Allen's embarrassed rambling.

"Hoo boy," Lavi said, smiling his signature grin. "Remember when I said we needed to work on our communication skills, neighbor? Looks like we still need a bit of work in that area."

"Um," Allen said, a little disconcerted by Lavi's sudden change in mood.

"Apparently I misjudged this whole situation. I'd feel really stupid, but I'm too busy feeling happy, so I won't bother. I hate feeling stupid anyway, mostly because I'm used to feeling like a genius. So why don't you tell me what I now suspect you've been trying to tell me all day?" He was looking very pleased with himself, which was getting on Allen's nerves.

"More like all week," Allen corrected grouchily. Lavi's eye widened a fraction, and then his smile increased in brilliance as he motioned for Allen to continue. "Anyway, Lavi, I…like you. A lot. And, um, I just wanted to know if you, you know. Felt the same way?" Allen looked up hopefully.

"Of course I do," Lavi said happily. "I've liked you for so long now… I don't know what I said to you on Halloween, but I can guarantee I meant every word of it."

"Really?" Allen asked, taken aback by the redhead's frankness. "But what about, you know…?"

"What? All of my fans?" Lavi asked, smirking. "It's like you said, Allen. You're someone I feel like I can really, genuinely connect with. That's something I've never really had either. Till now, of course."

Allen realized a bit belatedly that he was grinning like an idiot, but he found it difficult to care. "So what happens now?"

"Well, for starters, this," Lavi said. He leaned forward and cupped Allen's face in his hands. He stroked his cheek with his thumb, just as he had that Halloween night, before tilting his head to the side and kissing Allen tenderly. Allen threaded his fingers through Lavi's soft red hair and kissed back, so happy he felt like his heart was going to burst. When they finally broke apart, Lavi gave him the warmest grin Allen had ever seen and wrapped his arm around his shoulders just as he'd done so many times before. But now the gesture felt less friendly and much more intimate.

"So, what?" Allen asked, as he laid his head on Lavi's shoulder. "Are we dating now?"

Lavi laughed, hugging Allen close. "I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement, there, dude."

"Good," Allen said, satisfied. Lavi chuckled and reached for the remote. He turned the sound back up just as the parade was drawing to a close.

"Aww," Lavi said dejectedly. "I missed it."

"Sorry," Allen said.

"Eh," Lavi said, tossing the remote on the floor. "It was definitely worth it."

Allen felt a little cheesy as they cuddled together on the couch, but he was far too glad to care.

The tender moment was rudely interrupted, however, when Cross came barreling into the room. He took one look at Allen and Lavi, rolled his eyes, and said "I knew it. I fucking knew it. Didn't I tell you?" Then he demanded that Allen give him all of his money, which he was refused, and left in an indignant huff.

"I hate him," Allen sighed.

Lavi just chuckled and kissed the top of his head.

* * *

"Hey babe, where the hell do you keep the popcorn in this place?" Lavi demanded from the kitchen.

"In the cupboard next to the fridge," Allen answered as he sifted through the collection of DVDs Lavi had brought over. Then he grimaced. "And I wish you wouldn't call me babe."

"What? Why not?" Lavi asked, poking his head into the living room, a green plastic bowl in one hand.

"You know I don't like nicknames."

"Come on!" Lavi whined. "That's not a nickname. It's a term of endearment!"

"Still don't like it," Allen said dismissively.

"And here I was hoping you'd get over your irrational hatred of nicknames," Lavi pouted. "I thought I'd finally get one, now that we're together."

"Well, you thought wrong," Allen replied, smiling innocently.

"Mean," Lavi grumped, disappearing back into the kitchen. Allen heard a lot of general banging around, followed by some beeping as Lavi put a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

"I feel like all of these movies have exactly the same plot," Allen said, scowling at the generic action titles. "And why do they all have Steven Segal in them?"

"Because Steven Segal is awesome!" Lavi shouted over the hum of the microwave.

"Steven Segal is ridiculous," Allen deadpanned. He held up a case and read the description on the back. "Hmm, apparently in this one he takes on the entire Yakuza all by himself. Well, that's realistic."

The microwave beeped again and Allen could hear Lavi shaking the bag into the green plastic popcorn bowl he'd been carrying around. He sidled into the room and set the bowl on the table before flopping down next to Allen on the couch.

"Duh, kid. It's 'cause Segal is a badass," he insisted. "He carries around a samurai sword, you know? Just sort of has it at all times, just in case."

"So does Kanda," Allen pointed out. "And I don't think he's a badass. I just think he's crazy."

"Why you bein' so crabby today, babe?" Lavi wondered, tossing some popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth. "Oh shit, did you see that? Bow before me and my mad skills!"

"Get _over_ yourself," Allen said, amused. "And really, stop calling me babe. How would you like it if I called you honey or sweetheart or sugar bear or something?"

"What? Sugar bear? Where the hell did that come from?" Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's definitely not one of the standard pet names, dude."

"You know what I mean," Allen said, pouting.

"No, you know what, I kinda like sugar bear," Lavi said, mock-thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm not going to call you that," Allen said huffily.

"That's okay, 'cause I'm gonna call _you_ that," Lavi said with a grin.

"What? Kanda?" Allen said, misinterpreting. "Why would you do that? He'll slice you in half. And I rather like having you alive, you know," he pointed out.

"No, no, not Kanda," Lavi said, rolling his eye. "I mean you as in _you,_ Allen Walker."

"Dammit," Allen cursed.

Lavi cackled. "But if you want to call me honey or something I'm totally okay with that."

"No way," Allen said.

"Oh, you will," Lavi said, tapping his nose. "I'll bring you over to the dark side of pet names yet!"

"Just pick a movie, you crazy thing," Allen said, whacking him with a throw pillow.

"I'm all for the Yakuza," Lavi said, snatching the DVD case out of Allen's hand. "Those guys are some sketchy bastards. Segal will show them what's what."

"All right," Allen said amicably, leaning back comfortably as Lavi fiddled with the DVD player. The redhead shot him a grin and then joined him on the couch. While the previews played, Lavi slid closer, bringing his face within inches of Allen's. The white-haired boy let his eyes slide shut, grinning in anticipation of what was coming next.

Lavi's lips had barely brushed Allen's when an ear-splitting wail rose up just outside the living room window. Lavi jerked back in surprise and Allen groaned in frustration.

"Still haven't given up, have they?" the white-haired boy said, rubbing his temples.

"You'd think they would have realized by now," Lavi replied, amused.

"How many are there?" Allen wondered, sitting up a bit to peer out the window and into the bushes in his front yard.

"Dunno," Lavi said carelessly. "Sounds like quite a few."

"Chomesuke's really got them out in force today, hasn't she?" Allen said, leaning back. "She wants to kill me, you know."

Lavi laughed. "Yeah, well, I won't let her."

"Don't worry, I won't let her either," Allen said, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh Allen, I never knew you were so badass," Lavi teased, leaning toward him again. "We shouldn't let them ruin this for us, yeah?"

"Yeah," Allen said softly. "But just one second, okay?"

And he walked to the window, gave a wink and a jaunty wave to the girls who were not-so-inconspicuously camped out in his bushes, and drew the shade.

* * *

The End! I hope you all liked it. Drop me a review to let me know how I did, yeah? :)

Now, on to sequel news. I have decided to do one, though it may not be out for a while. If any of you have checked my profile, you'll know about it, but if you haven't I'll mention it now. It is (tenatively) titled "Stalking Allen Walker" and it'll still be told in third person limited, but this time more Lavi's POV. I was thinking about this layout earlier and then Ninja Trio's Best mentioned it in a review so I knew it was a good idea. I'm still working on plot elements, but I have a few ideas so far, so no worries. Let's just say that Lavi's fans won't give up on him that easily, Tyki Mikk is still hanging around, and Lavi has a lot more ideas for "adventures" he wants to drag Allen along on. I'll be working on a shorter chaptered fic in the interim (the idea for which I am ridiculously pleased with myself about), and then you can expect the sequel to be out in early to mid-January.

Hope to see you all then!


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